RWBY: The Last Best Hope
by The Antonymtion
Summary: Beacon Has Fallen. Yang lies in recovery as Qrow heads out to find a man who can heal her; But Ironwood wants this man too at any and all cost. Raven also gives Qrow a mission, and even he may need help from Ruby and her friends trying to convince this man of enigmas to accept. A legend, a man from beyond their realm, haunted by his shattered past. rated T for now...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Pyrrha

 **A/N: well, this is something my mind came up with to deal with the trauma of Vol. 3's ending. In here, Vol.4 hasn't taken place, and things get very weird.**

 **In all Honesty, I'm fairly new to the RWBY fandom, having only binged all three volumes in early summer, 2016. This is my First RWBY fanfiction, and I'd like to know what you think (please review). I'll try to reply to as many as I can.**

 **Also, this is AU, so there are deviations from cannons. Let's see if you can spot them all…**

 _ **Requiescat in pace Monty Oum**_

…

She knew this was the end. She knew it when she had kissed her partner for the first time; before rocketing him off to safety. She knew it as she Mag-Lifted the elevator up to her enemy, going to buy time for her friends to escape.

Now she had convinced herself of this: that she would not survive this fight with the new Fall Maiden. As her aggressor drew back her glass bow, Pyrrha looked back at her, pondering her answer to the question, "Do you believe in Destiny?" Out of the corner of her eye, Pyrrha caught a glimpse of something black, black with a red outline. _Ruby?_ _No, not Ruby!_

Cinder let her Death-Arrow fly, piercing Pyrrha's chest. The pain made her take her breaths in short, hitching gasps; and she started to feel herself fade into darkness. Suddenly, a searing pain scorched across her entire body for only an instant, and she found herself floating in, for lack of a better term, The Abyss.

…But only for a moment.

All of a sudden, a brilliant white light pierced the blackness, and washed right through Pyrrha; but she couldn't retain what she considered consciousness, and her last memory was an intense tingling across her form…

Then nothing.

* * *

She woke up with an intense throbbing in her head. She sat up, a sharp pain in her chest evoking a short gasp.

 _Wait_ , she thought, looking down at her newly reformed body encased in her old armor, and at the fresh scar visible on her chest, _I have my body? Am I dead?_ She looked around, checking her surroundings: a bleak, drained-looking landscape, capped by a purple-hued sky. There were deep woods to her right, a vast plain in front, and a few rocky outcroppings —a good distance off— to her right.

She got up and stretched, feeling the tightness in her heel, as a cool breeze brushed across her skin. It seemed to whisper in her ear, and at first it was simply static, until a message appeared from out of the white noise, and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end:

 _You don't belong here._

Pyrrha shook away the feelings of dread and panic that had welled up in her. She looked around for Miló and Akoúo̱, but couldn't find them anywhere; so she picked up a fairly straight branch, and started toward the rocky outcroppings, using the branch as a crutch to ease the pain in her heel.

She found a niche big enough to shelter her from the elements —if there were any here— and sat down to rest. Already she was exhausted, both physically from the trek, and mentally from this strange, ethereal plane. She looked up into the sky, trying to piece together what happened. Whatever this place was; the Afterlife, a higher plane of existence, or something else entirely, it unnerved her greatly.

Then she let her mind wander, and it drifted to Jaune; on his features: blond hair, caring, blue eyes, and, most of all, a steadfast heart of compassion and courage. She remembered how he always treated her like an equal, never placing her on a pedestal like everyone else; it was the one thing that endeared him to her the most.

She closed her eyes, and fantasized that they were together, all alone on a distant beach. No Grimm, no Maidens, no Destiny; Just him, her, and the waves lapping against the shore. She imagined both herself and Jaune wearing their bathing suits, holding hands as they walked along the shore. Suddenly, Jaune pulled her close to him, holding her with one arm around her back and caressing her cheek with the other. "Oh, Jaune," she moaned —both in her daydream, and in reality— as she gave up all resistance to his embrace. He leaned in close, his hand lifting up her chin as he did, and she could feel his warm breath on her lips. Those lips started to tremble with anticipation; and she placed her hands on his muscular frame, tracing his corded muscles in his chest and arm.

Pyrrha's grip on her crutch slipped; and she cut her palm on a thorn, jerking her from her fantasy. She snapped her eyes open and looked at her hand, and at the blood already welling up in her palm. She knew she had to act fast, and she tore off part of her sash, wrapping it around her hand tight enough to stem the bleeding, but not cut off circulation. _Why hasn't my Aura started working yet?_ She thought, her hand starting to throb. She clenched her hand into a fist, tilting her head downwards, and closed her tired eyes.

She thought of Jaune again, but this time her thoughts were full of grief and regret. _He must be devastated after what I did… Oh why did I need to be the hero? Why couldn't I have just stayed with Jaune?_

But she already knew the answer, because if she hadn't shoved him into the locker, and he'd gone with her, then not only would they both be dead…

… But so would all her friends.

* * *

 _A bar in Patch…_

 _Six weeks after the fall of Beacon…_

Qrow sat down at a private table in the corner, an empty chair across from him. He was meeting someone there, but was a bit early. He looked through the establishment, and took note of how many people were there: only a couple guys at the bar, the bartender talking to them about beacon, and a few people sitting at other tables. However, one man sitting at a table across the bar gave off a queer impression to Qrow; it wasn't the man's clothes that seemed out of place —except maybe the red baseball cap— it was like this guy _just didn't belong._ But Qrow knew better, and shook off that feeling.

He'd already ordered himself a drink, bottom-shelf as always, and took a swig from his glass. When he looked back at the previously empty seat, he saw _her._

"So," he asked, "You wanted to talk?"

She didn't reply.

He took another drink, and then continued, "Do you know what happened to your daughter?"

"I'm not here to talk about that," she quickly replied.

Qrow kept going, undaunted, "she's still recovering from her injuries, both physical and emotional. If her partner hadn't pulled her out, she would no longer be with us."

"Qrow…" she warned, her crimson eyes slightly twitching.

"She lost her arm, Raven," he stated, "your own daughter lost her arm; and here you are… not even wanting to say her name… let alone _'talk about it'_. Sounds like you just don't care for her."

She quickly reached out and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him close. "That's enough, Qrow," she said, her mouth nearly twisting in agony and sorrow, "if Yang can't learn to protect herself, then someone else should; I can't help her. How could I? You know I can't watch her every minute."

Qrow let that sink in for a moment, grasping what she wanted to tell him: _I want you to find a guardian for Yang._

"So," he began, "what do you want me to? Find a 'protector' for her?" She gave a slight nod. "And what about Tai?" he asked.

She drew a deep breath, closing her eyes as she did. "I don't think he'd keep up with her," she said, "She needs someone who can." Qrow paused, debating whether or not to accept. _I don't want to do this to Yang,_ he thought, _but she's got a point… and it's a good one._

"Alright, I'll do it," he stated. Then an idea popped into his head, and it came with a face. _Why not get the one man who saved both Summer's and my butt from an entire legion of Grimm, at the cost of his own hand…_

Raven let Qrow go, and he plopped back into his seat. He took another drink of the amber-colored fluid. "So," he asked, "you wanted to talk?"

"Ozpin is dead," she said, and drew out his cane from behind her as proof of her statement. Qrow seemed to turn sober as reality hit him. "The fool never stood a chance, not against the new Fall Maiden," she continued.

"Ozpin was many things," Qrow hoarsely said, "but a fool wasn't one of them." He finished off his drink, before taking Ozpin's cane from her.

"The times have changed, Qrow," Raven said, "the Maidens may not be enough to protect us now."

"And what do you suggest I do?" he replied. "Be smart and stay alive," she answered, "you're my brother, Qrow, and despite what you might think, I care for your safety."

She started to get up to leave, but not before Qrow said, "you know, I think I already thought of a 'guardian' for Yang." She turned back to him, slight irritation on her face, and made him continue, asking, "Well?"

" _The Ace of Spades"_

Raven's eyes widened at what her brother just said. _Why would he think of_ _him_ _?_ She thought _it's been twenty years since they last met._ She sat back down and drew another deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Qrow," she finally said, "Summer told me about him; and from what she said, it would seem that he's a very dashing young man." She looked up and stared at him, an intense look of worry deep in her eyes. "Yang will probably fall for him, and become completely smitten with 'his captivating eyes'."

Qrow looked at her with a dubious face. "She's a lot like you, Raven," he said. "That's what worries me," she replied. Then she remembered what Summer said he did when she was pinned down by the colossal Grimm, _"…it lunged at me. He suddenly appeared right in front of me, jamming his arm into its maw trying to shield me… He didn't seem to care about his own safety at all, trying to save me."_

Calming down, Raven decided to accept Qrow's choice. "Alright, I'll trust him because Summer did," she said, "but if he hurts my daughter, I swear I will cut him into a million pieces." _Well, It's good to know that she cares for Yang,_ Qrow thought. Raven grabbed his hand, saying, "I want him to help her, train her to _survive_ , and to be loyal to her."

Qrow simply replied, "I'll be sure to tell him that when I find him."

Out of the corner of his eye, Qrow saw the man in the red cap get up and leave, but not before glancing over at them, flashing… _a grin?_ Qrow tried to get a better look, but was too late; the man vanished out the door. _Probably thought we were lovers,_ he thought, his stomach revolting against the notion.

* * *

 **A/N for those of you who've read my other Fanfic, there's something I want to get off my chest: the reason why I didn't communicate in there. In all brutal honesty, I'd already written several chapters before even thinking about the Author's Note. In other words, when I wanted to start the A/N it was too late, and it felt awkward to me.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Promises and Regulations

Ruby had just finished packing up her bag, only bringing the essentials, and tossed it onto her bed next to her sleeping bag. She looked at the blank piece of paper on her desk, loathing having to write a goodbye letter to her dad. She spun and sat down on her bed, wishing she could just stay here with Yang; but she knew she needed to leave for Mistral. She hunched over, holding her head in her hands.

Her door squeaked open slightly, startling Ruby and making her jump. She looked at the door, seeing the furry face of the opener. "Hey Zwei," she breathed, sighing in relief. He walked over and jumped up onto her bed, laying his head in her lap trying to comfort her. She placed her hand on his head, scratching his ears. "Alright Zwei," she told him, "I'm gonna have to go, you stay here with Yang, okay?" He looked up at her, a soft whine in his throat. "I know boy," she replied, "I don't wanna go either, but I need to."

Zwei jumped down and was out the door before Ruby called after him, "Zwei! Come back!"

* * *

Qrow walked up the drive and to the door, pausing before he knocked. A muffled voice inside said, "one minute," as footsteps grew louder toward the door. A blond-haired man opened it, and was stunned by Qrow's unexpected visit.

"Hey Tai," Qrow said, "We need to talk."

"Uh, Shure? Come on in," Taiyang replied, ushering Qrow into the kitchen. They sat somewhat across from each other, Qrow taking a swig from his flask. "Well?" Taiyang asked, "What's this about?"

"It's about Yang," he answered, "I found someone who could help her." Taiyang looked on, saying, "Why didn't you bring this up earlier?"

"Tai, there's more," Qrow said, avoiding the question, "I talked to Raven." Taiyang was stunned for sure. "You did _what_!?" he demanded, trying to keep his voice down. Qrow continued, "She found Ozpin's cane," _And wants me to find a Guardian for Yang._ He left that last part unsaid. Taiyang, stunned from the recent news, drew a deep breath. "so, who's the guy who can help my Sunny Little Dragon?" he asked, voice shaking from shock, trying to change the subject. "do you really wanna know, Tai?" Qrow countered, not wanting to reveal The Ace of Spades real name; that was not his business, only Ace's.

He had made that clear to Qrow twenty years ago…

"and how is he going to help?" Taiyang demanded, bring Qrow back to the present. "well," he replied, "hopefully he'll give her back her arm… if I can convince him to." _And that's gonna be tricky,_ he thought, _maybe if someone came along and convinced him… someone close to Yang herself… maybe two 'someones'…_

They were interrupted by a bark beneath their table. Both Qrow and Taiyang looked underneath, to see the furry face of Zwei staring at Qrow. The corgi trotted off, leaving Taiyang and Qrow in the kitchen. When he found that Qrow wasn't following him, Zwei turned around and barked at him to follow, adding a whine for effect.

"I think he wants you to follow him, Qrow," Taiyang said, restraining a chuckle. Qrow stood up and followed Zwei as he went upstairs, stopping in front of Ruby's room. Zwei sat down in front of the partly-open door. Qrow peered inside, somewhat surprised at what he saw…

* * *

Ruby resigned herself to writing her goodbye letter. She stood up and walked over to her desk, plopping into her chair. Picking up the pen, drew her hand toward the paper; but hesitated barely a half a centimeter from contact. "C'mon Ruby," she sighed, "you need to do this, you need to be a big girl now." She girded up her resolve and put pen to paper. She already finished the first paragraph before she heard a gravelly voice behind her, "going somewhere?"

She jumped, whirling around to face the half-open door, and the man standing behind it. "U-uncle Qrow!" she stammered, "W-what are you d-doing here?!" Her face started to turn a shade of lightish-red. Qrow glanced at the pack on her bed, then asked, "May I come in?" she nodded.

He sat down on her bed; she sat back down in her chair, turned to face him. An awkward silence followed. Qrow sighed, and broke the silence. "Ruby," he said, "there are some things I should tell you." She tilted her head and folded her hands, waiting for him to continue. He drew a deep breath and did, "Ruby, there's a man who can who could give Yang her arm back; but he'll need convincing to actually help. Now you don't have to, but I would like you to come with me and try." She gasped, nearly choking, and exclaimed, "Ooh, can I!? Please!?" he chuckled, saying, "only if you don't tell 'you-know-who' what we're going to do for her." She nodded. "um," she said, "where is he exactly?"

"well, I think this time of year he's…" Qrow replied, "In northern Anima, running his lodge."

"Okay," she asked, "How did you meet him?"

He sighed, and told her, "well, long before you were born, your mom and I were partnered for a mission. It led us into the wilds of northern Anima. We were following reports of strange Grimm up there. We were ready to give up looking, when they found us."

Ruby sat on the edge of her seat, eyes wide as her uncle went on.

"Two monsters, the size of Ursai, Charged out from the woods. If it weren't for their snarling like rabid Beowolves, they'd have taken us with our backs turned. We had a hard time trying to hold our own against them, when suddenly he appeared with such a yell, he could have been a devil. He charged the two beasts, throwing his axe at mine. He leapfrogged over it and headed over to help your mom, leaving me to finish mine. Next thing I know, he's sailing overhead, as that vicious monster turned back to her. It suddenly collapsed as his Knife sailed into its skull. I still remember what he said after that: 'I'm so _awesome!_ '

The thing was, his arm had been bitten off; and after he took us to his lodge to get healed up, he took a device, and regenerated his arm."

Ruby sat there in absolute wonder. "so," she said, "you want me to help convince him to help Yang?" He chuckled, ruffling her hair, "you catch on quick, kiddo."

"Uh," she asked, "can I bring a few friends?" Qrow sat there, trying to come up with an argument against that; he couldn't find any. "only if they want to," he said.

* * *

Winter saw what was happening: the Mistrali forces were increasing, producing more and more weapons each day. In fact, she could almost feel the rising tension in the air. They were preparing for war. She already reported this back to General Ironwood, but the security of Atlas could still be at risk.

Now, many weeks later, she was on the hunt for a man, according to the General, Ozpin referred to as "The Ace of Spades", he was rumored to be somewhere in Anima. Then her scroll buzzed. It was a message from the General.

"A cargo airship departed from Atlas with an important stowaway on board. Rendezvous at 04:00 at its destination, landing pad 12-A. Retrieve and watch over subject. Continue with current mission with subject. –Ironwood"

She furrowed her brow. _The General wants me to –babysit– a stowaway? This is definitely against regulations. I don't like this one bit,_ she thought, checking the time: 17:42. Huffing, she turned and headed back to the safe-house.

She needed to get up early tomorrow.

* * *

Jaune sat in his room, looking at a picture on his scroll. It was a selfie of team JNPR, taken right before their fight in the Vital championship. He never realized how close Pyrrha wanted to be with him, she smiling right behind him in the photo, her hand on his shoulder. In fact, if it wasn't for Pyrrha's kiss, he would've been blind to her affections.

He sighed as he recalled that kiss: the warmth of her embrace, the taste of her lips, and the smell of her hair. One of her hands on his armored chest, the other on his cheek as they separated. She suddenly shoving him into the locker, imputing landing coordinates as he pleaded her to let him out. The roaring sound of a rocket under his feet…

He was too caught up in his recollection that Jaune didn't hear the soft knock on his door. "Jaune?" asked his sister, poking her head in. He looked up, startled by her sudden, but welcome, intrusion. He smiled, motioning her to come in. he tried to speak, but choked on the words he tried to say. As soon as she entered, Jaune crumpled into a heap, sobbing. She put her hand on his back, trying to comfort him. All she could understand from his blubbering was, "She's gone, and she's not coming back."

They were interrupted by his scroll ringing. It was Ruby. Jaune stopped sobbing enough to answer it, "Hello?"

"Hey Jaune, change of plans…"

* * *

 **A/N: Here it is! Chapter two! At last!**

 **Sorry it took so long, I was powering through my other Fanfic...**

 **...SO! thanks for your reviews everyone, I really like reading your input!**

 **Zenith Tempest : I feel the same way about this, but I do not intend my OC to be a God-like character. however, I'll let you know that he'll be different.**

 **Guest : I'm glad you enjoy!**

 **EmeraldGuardian7** **: To clear things up, I didn't have Salem's realm in mind... This is purple, her's is red. think of it more like the "Space Between Spaces" or something. but I'm glad you enjoy.**

 **Please follow and share if you like this. If not, then why are you here?**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Man from a Forgotten Past

 **Thanks for your patience guys, here's chapter three.**

"… I'm gonna be going with my uncle to Anima, wanna come with?"

Those words still echoed through his mind, nearly two days after she said them, as Jaune and the rest of what used to be team JNPR, arrived in Vale. They'd meet Ruby and Qrow later at an Inn. She said they were looking for someone, someone important…

Blake Belladonna.

As they walked down a broken street, they looked on as reconstruction teams tried to rebuild the shattered buildings. Jaune drew a heavy sigh, seeing what he considered his home in ruins. Nora put her hand on his shoulder. Jaune closed his eyes as memories of Pyrrha, both good and bad, flooded his mind. "Pyrrha's gone," he said to himself, "I wish I could bring her back, but I have to move on."

* * *

She stood on a rooftop, overlooking the harbor, and the ship docked below. She took a deep breath as she recalled where she'd been these past few weeks. Hiding out from cheap motels to culverts, all over Vale; almost in constant fear of being caught by the White Fang, or worse, that they had found her friends…

She shuddered at the thought of what Adam might do –what he said he would do– to her friends because of what she did. But she reminded herself why she ran: so they wouldn't get hurt anymore because of her. She couldn't handle that any longer.

A crow landed on the other side of the roof Blake was on. She paid it no mind, until she heard his gravelly voice. "So," he said, "you've finally decided to leave." Blake whipped around, drawing Gambol Shroud at the ready, and stared at the man before her. Qrow held up his hand in a calming gesture. "Miss Belladonna, please," he said, "we only want to talk." She stayed at the ready, but debated whether to stay or not, thinking, _"We?" what does he mean "we?"_

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a few drifting rose petals. _Oh no…_

Qrow continued, turning toward Vale, "You pulled Yang, unconscious but alive, out of a burning building while wounded yourself; But, when you got patched up, you high-tailed it out of there. She wasn't too happy about that." Blake flinched at that, right as Qrow turned back to her. He saw her flinch, and decided to go ahead and ask, "I can't speak for her, or her sister, that won't fix this; but there's someone who could patch things up, and it'd be very helpful if you came with and helped persuade him."

She shook her head, "I-I can't. I don't want to get anyone hurt."

Ruby finally chimed in, "Blake, please." Blake turned and looked at her as she continued, "come with us to Anima, for Yang's sake." Blake took a step back from them, every rational voice in her head screaming for her to get out of there. "This is crazy! Who in Anima would help us?" Qrow sighed and said, "The man Ozpin referred to as _The Ace of Spades_ , a man almost as old as the professor himself."

"He's got a contraption that regrows arms," Ruby finished, to her uncle's slight annoyance. Blake's eyes widened at that, and she looked at Ruby like she'd gone insane.

A tense moment passed… then another, as they just stood there waiting for an answer. Blake closed her eyes, and finally gave one, "fine, on one condition: after we get him, and fix Yang's arm, I'm heading to Menagerie."

* * *

It wasn't much of an "inn". Outside of its name, it was simply a motel; but it was the only "inn" not destroyed, full, or being used as a makeshift hospital. Schrader's Inn was a large, sixty unit motel of three stories, L-shaped, with parking in front and around the back. It wasn't a high-priced place, nothing fancy, no swimming pool. A small diner was hosted across the lot.

Jaune, Ren, and Nora sat at the back of that diner. Ren and Jaune sat in the booth across from each other, quietly enjoying their meals, a chicken salad and cheeseburger with fries respectively. Nora was noisily enjoying, on the verge of the obnoxious, her super stack of pancakes. Then, out of the blue, two people sat in their booth. Jaune looked up and saw a red-caped girl sitting next to him. He looked across the table and saw the bow-topped Blake Belladonna. He smiled at her, saying, "glad to see you aboard." He turned back to Ruby and asked, "So, where's your uncle?"

"He's getting our rooms, over at the –err, motel," she said, looking in confusion at the naming of the establishment. A waitress moseyed over and asked, "can I get you two young 'uns anything?" Ruby replied, "I'll have what he's having," pointing a thumb at Jaune. In response, Jaune lifted his head. "Um, can I have a –tuna sandwich?" Blake asked cautiously. "Sure hun'," the waitress replied, "I'll get you your orders right away." she walked off, leaving the band of friends… alone.

* * *

Qrow walked into the diner, and saw the group huddled in the rearmost booth. He stepped up to the counter and ordered a cheesesteak sandwich, and told the waitress he'd be sitting in the back booth. He sat right next to Ruby, to her surprise. "Well," he said, "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions, probably the biggest is 'who is _the Ace of spades_?'" They gave the affirmative. He sighed, saying, "Well then, how well do you know your fairy tales?" That caught them off guard. "What do fairy tales have to do with anything?!" said Blake. Qrow looked at her and answered, "Because not all legends and fairy tales are fiction."

He looked at each face there, before he said, "How well do you know the Legend of the Four Wolves?" Jaune winced as he heard that, remembering who told him one of her favorite stories. "You mean the four warriors who once protected a village from an entire horde of Grimm?" he asked, "It was one of Pyrrha's favorite stories, the one that made her want to become a Huntress." Ruby put her hand on his shoulder.

Qrow looked on, saying, "Now what if I told you that they're not all gone, one's still up n' breathing." Ren looked back at Qrow and said, "The Ace of Spades." Qrow nodded. "Most of the story is all but forgotten, however; if you want the full tale you'll have to ask him," he said, "still, do you know where they came from?" They all looked at each other for an answer, not finding one. The waitress came over bringing Qrow's sandwich. He took a bite, chewed and swallowed, then waited for an answer. Blake spoke up, "They just appeared out of nowhere," a pause, "The legend never said where they came from."

"They were travelers," Qrow answered, "I can't say from where, I never found out." Qrow looked out the window at the muted night sky. "More than likely, a place farther than we could Imagine."

* * *

Blake awoke with the dawn, starting out of her sleep. She got up and splashed her face as Qrow and Ruby slept. She looked up into the mirror, starring at a face she barely recognized. She closed her eyes and vowed to herself that she wouldn't run from the White Fang anymore.

A soft knock on the door startled her, and she crept over to see who it was. The blond, disheveled hair, tired eyes, and black sweatshirt under white armor defined the figure on the other side. She opened the door and briskly stepped out, closing the door behind her. "Oh," he said in surprise, "I'm sorry I woke you."

"I was awake already," she dismissed. Turning to him, she asked, "what are you doing up?"

"Couldn't really sleep," he said, leaving out the reason why, "you?" She didn't answer. They stayed there in silence, leaning against the guardrail of the third story. "Hey," he finally said, "we're going to get your partner's arm back… somehow."

"Just getting her arm back isn't going to make things right," she snapped. He was taken aback at that for a moment. She sighed, "Things have changed now, we lost so much…" Jaune closed his eyes, thinking of Pyrrha. "I lost Pyrrha at Beacon," he admitted, "right after she-" He stopped, trying not to choke up. She looked over at him, slight surprise in her eyes. She didn't know what to say.

She stood there in an awkward silence, holding herself in the chilly morning air. "Well," Jaune said as he broke the silence, "here comes the sun, at least we still have that." She gave a small smile at that, and his persistent optimism. They both stood there watching the sunrise… together.

Almost an hour later, she turned to him and said, "We better get back inside, you don't want to catch cold." Jaune nodded, adding a mumbled, "Yeah, your right." They moved toward their respective rooms, when Blake stopped, putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her, meeting her eye-to-eye. "Thanks for the moment," she said, then let him go.

 **A/N: Thank you guys for your support, taking time to read my stuff, and Those who commented:**

 **some bum:** **yes, there was a reference or two in there, and here's more content right now.**

 **This Guy:** **Thanks, I'm glad you think so. I appreciate the support.**

 **Emiliano733:** **Bear Faunus... Hmm... Your idea is not without merit, but not for this story. I already have a backstory set up for my OC, and if I change him to a faunus it would destroy the character itself, i.e not be the same.** **P.S.:** **...uh, beg pardon? if you are referring to my bit in the first chapter about Monty, let me explain: (no, there is too much. Let me sum up,) That was only my say on the matter, I paid my respects, and now I've moved on. Simple.**

 **sorry this is late, I'm busy over here right now so I don't have a set schedule. my bad.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A Place beyond Imagination

 **A/N: _Yes!_ Another chapter posted, and hopefully this rate is okay for you guys out there. I'm serious, I worry that I'm not posting the chapters soon enough for you to enjoy (or at least read) them. It doesn't keep me up at night or anything (there's not much that does), but it still worries me.**

 **Without further ado, here goes...**

* * *

Yang stared through the window at the wintery scene outside. She heaved a heavy sigh, loathing how beautiful and serine the scene was. She had not moved from her bed in weeks, and within the past two, she refused to eat, getting thinner and scrawnier each day.

The loss of her arm was more than devastating to Yang. It would be months before she could be fit for action again… if she was lucky. She would most likely have to get a robotic prosthesis at this point.

She rubbed what was left of her right arm, now nothing more than a bandage-wrapped stump. Starting to shed tears, she desperately wished for a chance of her arm to return the way it used to be; then she scolded herself for clinging to a childish hope when reality proved otherwise. At that point, she broke down into silent weeping; this sadness that constantly crushed her into pieces. And she stayed in her bed, too depressed to move. Very few knew this side of Yang, now a broken down, depressed, and bitter shell of what she used to be.

She cried herself to sleep behind her closed door, the snow silently falling outside her window.

* * *

Winter walked out to the platform, the airship beginning to land as she did. Right as the boarding ramp descended, she walked up and boarded the ship, looking for the stowaway in the cargo hold. Then she saw _her_ , wearing her conspicuous white dress, gathering her suitcase. "What on Remnant are you doing here?" she harshly asked, startling the stowaway, making her drop her suitcase. Weiss looked up and saw her older sister standing before her. "Winter!" she exclaimed, "I, uh, came to see you." Winter pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.

"You ran away from home, stowed away in a cargo airship, just to see me?" she asked incredulously. Weiss opened her mouth to reply, but closed it again, looking down instead. "I thought so," Winter said. She started to pace, near-ranting, "Father will soon be after you now, you know that?" Weiss nodded. Winter turned toward her sister, stern worry in her eyes, "don't you know that you're a target here, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?" Weiss looked up, stating, "I'm not the heiress anymore."

That stopped Winter in her tracks, "Excuse me?"

Weiss explained, "Father revoked my inheritance and bestowed it to Whitley."

"He can't do that!" Winter exclaimed.

"He did it in My name!" Weiss countered.

They stood there for a moment, and then Winter took off her longcoat. "Come along," she said as she put it on Weiss, "you're going to stay with me." The two left the ship, and headed toward the safehouse.

* * *

Winter read her orders again.

 _Continue with current mission with subject._

She sighed and looked over at her sister sleeping on the bunk. "There's a lot you don't know, little sister," she quietly said, "things that will change your world forever." She looked out the window at the street outside.

It was empty.

She moved over and sat at a desk littered with papers and documents. From what she found here, the Ace of Spades was somewhere in northern Anima; question was, who was he? What did he look like?

And why did the General want him?

Weiss yawned, sitting up in bed, and stretched. Winter watched her as she shuffled her way to the bathroom, still in her dress. Winter turned back to the documents. She was very thankful for that recent tip that an odd, heterochromic young man lived up in northern Anima this time of year. The strange thing about the tip, was how the man who gave it to her remembered the man, "Come to think of it, you might be related, you both have the same hair,"

She heard the shower turn on, and she checked the street again; this time, a man briskly walked down the street, homeless and drunk judging by his grungy old coat and staggering pace.

She went over and knocked on the bathroom door, asking, "Weiss, do you require anything?" Weiss paused, and then answered, "No, not now, thank you." Winter returned to her desk. She looked over the papers again one last time, then decided what to do.

She gathered the papers and put them in a nearby portfolio. Weiss came up behind her and asked, "what's going on?" Winter turned around, serious, and saw Weiss, dressed only in a bathrobe, her hair wrapped in a towel. "Get yourself dressed," she said, "we're leaving."

* * *

Jaune walked the streets of Vale by himself. The others were gathering needed supplies, and Qrow was off getting them a transport. Although there were other people out on the street, Jaune wasn't registering them; he barely registered the street itself, too busy with his own troubled thoughts.

His time, however, they weren't focused on Pyrrha; rather, on the events of that morning. Specifically, on the look Blake gave him after the sunrise. On the surface, it was nothing; but with Pyrrha –her true feelings lost in Jaune's obliviousness– it seemed like nothing either.

Jaune kept walking. A man called out to him, but he didn't hear. All of a sudden, a hand on his shoulder shook him into reality. "Excuse me," the man said, "you dropped this." He handed Jaune back his scroll. Jaune thanked him and the man left. Jaune looked down at his scroll, and found Blake Belladonna's number entered, ready to dial. He stared wide-eyed at the screen in panic, and shut his scroll.

He decided to go back to the motel… quickly. He wasn't exactly feeling well. He decided then and there, as he hurried back, that, whatever intent her gaze meant, he would keep this to himself for now and wait to see what happens.

* * *

There was a knock on the door. "Yang, Are you okay in there?" the muffled of Taiyang said from the other side. She turned her head to the door and flatly said, "What do you think?" He sighed, "You've been very quiet lately." She opened her mouth to say more, but bit down on her tongue before she could.

"There's something we should talk about," he said, "may I come in?" She blinked, and then answered, "Shure." He walked in and sat at the edge of her bed. She turned back to the winter scene outside. "Well," he said, "your uncle's gone to get someone to help fix your arm, or so he says." Yang's eyes flashed red. "Somehow," he continued, "I get the feeling there's more to it than just that."

She turned to him and said, "What do you mean?" He paused, and then shook off the thought, "Never mind, it's just a funny feeling." She gave him a quizzical look as he went on, "Thing is, Qrow wants to get you back on your feet again, we all do." She heaved a sigh, "what's the point? Everyone thinks I'm a monster, since what happened at Vital…"

Taiyang looked away, remembering what he saw that day. Yang saw him turn and walk away, not quite knowing what he saw in her, but her guess, _It's exactly what everyone else sees_ , was wrong. What he really saw in her was her mother, and it hurt. Raven had his heart before, and now her daughter was becoming more and more like her.

* * *

The five of them headed for the airship where Qrow was waiting. It looked like it belonged in a scrap heap. Simply put, it was an overly modified bullhead; complete with an enlarged cargo bay, and enough external Dust tanks to, in Ruby's opinion, get them to outer space and back.

Qrow came out and met them. "I know it doesn't look like much, but the pilot says she'll get us to Nefalhaymn Village in Northern Anima," he said, "from there, we'll be on our own."

"Are you sure about this Uncle Qrow?" Ruby said, eyeing the numerous scorch marks on the hull. "It's the fastest way to get there, Rubes," Qrow answered. They all boarded after that. Thankfully, there were plenty of seats for them: four seats were right behind the cockpit; twelve more lined both sides of the bay, six per side. Ruby took a seat behind the cockpit on the starboard side, the others took the bay seats, and Qrow took the copilot's chair.

After closing the bay doors and completing the pre-flight check, the pilot radioed for clearance. "How long," Qrow asked her, "exactly, is the flight?" She paused, then turned to her instruments and said, "If we're lucky, about seven or eight hours." He started to scowl. "If we don't get attacked by any Grimm, have excellent tail winds, and aren't forced down by Mistrali forces that is," she clarified. "If we're not?" he said. She turned to him, "realistically, it'd be more like ten to fourteen hours."

The bullhead got clearance for departure, and they lifted off for Anima.

* * *

She fidgeted as she stared out the window for the umpteenth time. Secretly, she was excited that someone would "fix her arm," but one fact made her uneasy: she didn't earn her arm yet, and she was too weak to do anything about it. She silently cursed her fortune that someone would help just because he owed her uncle a favor.

 _I'll have to decline_ , she thought, _I can't get my arm until I earn it; but, then again, I'll do anything to get it back. If he does fix my arm, I'd be indebted to him, although I don't know how I'll pay him back for an arm._

She turned her gaze away from the window, and looked around her room. Her eyes settled on the solitary bracelet-form of what was left of Ember Celica; its mate had been disintegrated along with her arm. Her door opened and she looked up, and screamed at the vision she saw: Adam charging at her, crimson blade drawn. He turned to smoke before he reached her, but it still adversely affected her.

Taiyang barged into her room, seeing his daughter curled in a ball, shaking and whimpering. He went over and held her tightly, saying, "Ssh, it's okay, Daddy's here…"

* * *

The flight was remarkably dull. Ruby fell asleep an hour after takeoff, Jaune and Nora Followed suit, and Ren meditated in his seat. Blake, on the other hand, couldn't sleep; even though she tried, the noise of the engines kept her awake.

Then it happened. Right before they arrived in Anima, Blake nodded off. She dreamed she was back home in Menagerie. It made her cry. Walking down a hall, she heard a distant voice calling her name. Suddenly, she awoke, and heard, "Blake, it's time to go." She looked up to see Jaune sitting next to her. She blushed.

* * *

Ruby stretched as she got out of the bullhead. She looked at her surroundings; saw the snow-covered forests, the village buildings grouped together behind a stone-and-mortar wall, Jaune leading Blake out of the bullhead, and the mountain, jutting up like a sentinel guarding the lone village resting on it.

Qrow gathered them together and told them they'd retire at the village tavern. Tomorrow, they'd get up early and hike the mountain's trail to the lodge. Ruby walked around the village, sometimes greeting the really nice villagers, but mostly thinking about the man they were going to meet. The fact that Qrow said he was one of The Four Wolves, the last one, absolutely thrilled her. She had so many questions for him. She wondered how tall he was, what he looked like, and how he was able to defeat all those Grimm; but, most important of all, she wondered what his weapon was.

* * *

 _Many eons ago… in an entirely different universe…_

He stood on top of a sand dune and watched as the last glimmers of the sun lit up the butterscotch sky. He glanced up, already seeing the two potato-shaped moons in the twilight sky, only to return his gaze to the horizon.

A figure approached from behind, one whom he considered his sister and close friend, Cynthia. "We're moving in ten," she said, her voice tinted with her Russian accent. "Hey, you okay?" He tilted his helmet toward her, and tried his best to shrug his shoulders in his pressure suit. "I'll live," he said.

She looked into his helmets faceplate, and through the engraving he chose for it. They both had decorations on their faceplates, Cynthia's had the face of a jackal… but his was a burning skull.

She triggered a private two-way commlink with him and said, "This godforsaken planet has taken its toll on all of us. The counsel gives us orders, and we obey them even though it makes us sick, and not because we're a different species." He sighed, "Keep in mind, Synth, we used to be Human, but we gave that up for this." He gestured to his body, before kneeling down and picking up a handful of rust-stained sand. "Nothing but monsters," she stated.

"Monsters made by monsters," he concluded, letting the sand slip from his gloved fingers. He turned back to where she came, and saw the remains of the practically razed science station, the bodies already buried in shallow graves.

They didn't say a thing, simply staring at the ruin in front of them.

* * *

 **A/N: So, this was a big chapter. Although something funny comes to mind: I'm not entirely convinced the Author's Note (A/N) is or isn't a sneaky way of adding words to a chapter, to make it look bigger.**

 **and now, me replying to review:**

 **Emiliano773:** **I'm** **sorry If I insulted you, I just didn't understand, I thought you were talking about his death, not about the whole Hummingbird thing...** **Anyway, about the Wolves, you'll have to wait and see; but here's a hint: It's probably not what you think. Pyrrha... well all I will say is that she is in a vaguely similar situation to what Church went through after he "died" in Blood Gulch.**

 **Thanks for -you- who commented, I really appreciate the feedback! Although now It seems either this work is so bad that you can't find words to use, OR it's so good you're too thunderstruck to type. *grins devilishly while chuckling***

 **well, Abyssinia next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five: One of Four

They got up early, and Blake didn't like it. Neither did Jaune, but the others didn't mind. They all ate breakfast, packed up, and were out the door in just over an hour. Even though they all wore winter coats, the freezing air stung their fingers and faces as they walked through the village. As they left, the sun started to rise in the East. They had to walk up a winding mountain trail the rest of the way; it would be a long journey. They needed to start early so they could reach the lodge before sundown; however, Qrow was worried they wouldn't make it by then.

They walked on for three hours before having to stop and take a breath. They sat down in the snow and panted, not saying a word. Eventually, they picked themselves up and moved on.

It wasn't until about midday when encountered Grimm. There were about ten or so half-frozen Beowolves, which they dispatched easily. In fact, Qrow didn't even draw his blade at all. Taking two at a time, Ruby, Blake, and the remnant of JNPR killed off the monsters; after that, they hiked on in silence, slowly ascending the mountain.

By mid-afternoon, they had nearly passed out from lack of oxygen. It took them a good hour to recover. Ruby looked back at where they'd come, the sheer cliffs on the edge of the footpath, only wide enough for two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, dropping off into oblivion. This was the only safe path up. She sat back down, and looked at an edifice the path curved around. There was something peculiar engraved in its surface, she noticed. _It kinda looks like a crossbow_ , she thought, _a spikey crossbow pointed up._ "…We'll get there right after dark," Qrow said, looking out at the sky. A storm was moving in, and he wanted to get indoors before it arrived. "We'll need to get movin, now," he urged. They got up and made a dash through the already knee-deep, half-melted snow. By dark, they had made thirty-or-so breathers –most of them brief– and their faces and hands were past numb. The path curved into a vast plateau covered by a thick forest. They were trudging, feet and legs cold, wet, and sore, when Ruby saw the light of the cabin-like lodge. They all stood for a moment, staring at the simple structure.

* * *

The two-story lodge stood in the center of a clearing, the mountain trail running past it. As they approached, Qrow elaborated, "you shouldn't worry about, and he'll let us stay overnight, even if he doesn't have vacancy." Nora's stomach growled, "Uungh, I just hope he's got something to eat," she said. Ruby and the rest solemnly agreed.

Qrow walked up to the door; Ruby, two steps behind him, noticed the same strange symbol painted on the door: a black, spikey crossbow. "Hey nick," he called out, knocking on the door. It opened by itself, the latch clicking free from his knocks. Qrow quickly drew his blade, calling to Ruby and Blake, "you two stay behind me," he turned to Jaune, "the rest of you circle around back, cover the back door… Go!" he turned back and swiftly entered the lodge, scanning the large room with his keen eyes. They drew their weapons, Blake and Ruby following, the others circling back. Qrow motioned them to fan out and search the place.

Blake climbed the wooden spiral staircase, as quiet as a mouse, and proceeded to check the rooms up there. Qrow walked through a door and into the adjoining garage. Ruby tentatively stepped into the modest kitchen alcove, separated from the large living room only by a counter. A large, covered pot was on the stove, slowly bubbling away. She lifted the lid and took a whiff. The smell was so good; it made her mouth water and her stomach growl.

She returned to the living room and looked around. At one end was a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf full of various books; at the other sat a couple lounge chairs and a crackling wood fireplace in the corner. She took a look at a few of the books; some of the books she recognized.

Suddenly, she heard a creak behind her; and she whirled around, bringing _Crescent Rose_ to bear, uttering a sharp, "Eep!" A segment of the hardwood floor was tilting up –a trapdoor– and a man was climbing out, carrying an armload full of logs. He was wearing a red flannel shirt, and listening to music loud enough for Ruby to make out some of the words:

" _One day, I'll face the hell inside me…"_

He dropped the logs next to the fireplace before turning around, and noticed Ruby standing there, holding her scythe at the ready. He paused, surprised at her presence. She got a fairly good look at most of his face, a very symmetrical one except for his eyes; the right a pale green, the left a stark purple. But most outstanding of all, he had ashen-white, short and curly hair.

"Uh," he said, turning his head to the left, revealing the scar previously shadowed on the right side of his face –almost centered between his eye and ear– "Can I help you?" His question caught her off guard, and she lowered _Crescent Rose_. "Um," she said, "we're looking for the guy who runs this place."

As quiet as she went up, Blake descended the stairs, and saw Ruby talking to a stranger… a stranger with off-white hair.

"Well," he said, "I may as well introduce myself, I'm Nick." He held out his hand, wearing a fingerless glove, which Ruby shook, clumsily holding _Crescent Rose_ in her other hand. "Hi, I'm Ruby!" Blake put her weapon away and walked over. She didn't know what it was, but, strangely, it felt like he wasn't Human, nor was he Faunas, he was… different. Ruby turned around, following Nick's gaze behind her, "Oh Blake, I found him."

Just then, the back door flew open, and in dashed Jaune and Nora –both muttering about the cold– and both bolted straight for the fireplace. Ren entered calmly, closing the door behind him. Nick's only comment on this was, "well, howdy."

Ruby folded up _Crescent Rose_ and put her away. She turned to the garage and called. "Uncle Qrow, we found him!" Qrow stepped out from the garage; and Nick turned around, both staring at a face they hadn't seen in two decades.

"Hey, what's up, Qrow?" Nick said nonchalantly, "been a while." Qrow replied, yeah, twenty years," and taking out his flask, took a swig as the rest looked on. He swallowed, "I've got a favor to ask you-"

"And it can wait till after dinner," Nick interrupted, and he walked over to the stove. He took off the lid and stirred the pots contents, "Go ahead and seat yourselves," he said, motioning to a rectangular table hidden in an alcove right off the kitchen, benches lining the walls around it, "the stew's almost ready." Both Ruby and Nora made a mad dash to the table.

* * *

It was potato 'n lentils stew; and to parched stomachs, it was the best stew they ever had. They all had second helpings, except Nick, who was more than content with one. "Alright Nick," Qrow said after finishing up his bowl, "now you'll hear us out." Nick nodded, motioning for them to continue.

"I need your help, Nick," Qrow said, "You need to fix someone's arm." Nick slightly furrowed his eyebrows, saying, "What's wrong with it?" Qrow hesitated, and Blake grimaced, remembering that night. "It got sliced off above her elbow," Qrow responded, trying to be technical. Nick didn't react, but sat there for a moment before asking, "Who is it, Qrow, what's her name?"

Qrow sighed, and said, "Her name's Yang, she's my niece."

"And my sister," added Ruby. "And our friend," chimed Nora, to the agreement of the remnant of JNPR. Qrow glanced at them before continuing, "I know you have a device that can regrow severed limbs; please, help us… help her." Nick just sat there, shifting his jaw from side to side. Ruby started to say more, but then Nick stated, "Okay then, I'll do it." He grinned, getting up and putting his bowl in the sink.

Ruby got up and practically leaped over the table. She ran up and hugged Nick at the waist, quietly saying, "Thank you." He looked down at her and gave her a nod with a slight smile. She let go of him, rubbing the back of her head and giving a short, nervous chuckle.

They all cleared their dishes. Ren turned to Nick and said, "Qrow told us that you were one of the Four Wolves, the last one alive." Nick tilted his head and replied, "That depends on your definition of 'alive'; it might be different from mine." Ren continued, undaunted by his comment, "Are you one of the Four?" Nick returned, "Would you believe me if I said, 'yes'?"

"So you do know the legend." Jaune half asked, half stated. "Do _you_?" countered Nick, turning to him. Jaune was silent for a moment, before answering, "Yes, I know it. It was one of my partner's favorite stories." Nick motioned for Jaune to tell it, and he collected his thoughts and memories before continuing. He looked up, straight at Nick, and told it word for word as he had heard it, sitting next to Pyrrha after a training session.

* * *

 _Long ago a Darkness spread throughout the world. The forces of Grimm rampaged and ravaged the lands and sea, and people were isolated in small villages, huddling in fear. Village after village was razed by hordes of Grimm, drawn by their fear and hopelessness._

 _Then_ they _just appeared._

 _Four strangers, traveling from village to village, fending off the Grimm with ease, helping the poor and weak, and always staying together. Through the best and worst, holding a bond that was stronger than a family, like a pack of wolves. They became the very foundation of what a team was._

 _Their most noted event was the battle of Tauna village, where they held off entire hordes of Grimm by themselves, at one point, tearing through them with nothing but their bare hands. For twenty-three more years they continued to travel and help, never once backing down from anything. They treated the Faunas as equals, like they were apart of humanity; because of this, and the way they were bonded to each other, people called them the four wolves, a title they accepted. However their real names have been forgotten, but their titles haven't:_

 _The Grey Wolf; a woman whose fighting skill was unmatched by most men. Her temper always flared at the sight of injustice, and she made every effort to help those who couldn't help themselves. Of the four, she was the most compassionate, using her strength to shelter the weak._

 _The Black Wolf; the youngest of the four, he was the most adventurous. He always saw each village and voyage as a new possibility for excitement._

 _The Red Wolf; a man whose strength equaled that of ten men combined. Of the four, he was the wittiest, rarely passing up the chance to play a joke on someone._

 _The White Wolf; their leader. He was the wisest of the four, and only spoke if he had to._

 _Eventually, people became inspired by them, and they started to fight back against the Grimm. But the Wolves were preparing. And then, as strangely as they appeared, they disappeared; lost and scattered in the wisps of time._

* * *

Jaune choked back tears as the memories of _her_ flooded his mind.

Nick shifted his jaw from side to side, before concluding, "Yup, that pretty much sums it up." He walked over and tended the fire. After a pause, Ruby walked over and sat next to him. "you know, when I first heard about you, I thought you'd be–" she started. Nick turned to her, finishing her sentence, "Older than dirt?" she nodded. He looked deep into her silver eyes, remarking to himself, _she has silver eyes… just like her mother. Maybe Qrow did settle down after all, he was a bit interested in Summer back then… course, maybe not. Still, this Rose here is asking why I never age, something I'd rather not talk about._ He nodded as well, saying, "So do I."

* * *

Hours later, the group was asleep upstairs… at least, most of them. Qrow came back down to see Nick still at the fire. He stopped as he saw him reach into the fire with his right half-gloved hand to move a burning log, his sleeve rolled up showing the thin, ring-like scar detailing where he lost his arm twenty years prior; among others, including one that queerly looked like three numbers. After adjusting the log, Nick pulled his arm back and quickly pulled down his sleeve. "There something on your mind, Qrow?" he asked without turning around.

"Yeah," Qrow said as he sat across from him, "You could say that." Nick looked at him, shifting his jaw from side to side, and then he started to grin, saying, "I ain't gonna like this, am I?" Qrow sighed and continued, "A certain someone wanted me to find someone for a job, and I chose you." Nick gave him a sharp look. Qrow got out his flask and took a swallow as Nick sighed, saying, "let me guess, this certain someone is related to you." Qrow hesitated, and then took another swig; then after swallowing, he sighed, "the job involves Yang."

Nick furrowed his brow, saying, "the girl I'm gonna give another arm to? What exactly does Raven want." Qrow looked at him, then carefully said, "She wants someone to protect her." Nick looked on, saying, "and you chose me." Nick heaved a heavy, frustrated sigh, brow knit together, and continued, "sounds like you're setting me up with your own niece, Qrow"

Qrow was taken aback at that. "Look," he said, leaning forward, "I'm not trying to set you up with her, romantically speaking, but, in all honesty, even if that does happen, I'd approve." Nick glared daggers as Qrow continued, "I think you'd like her, Nick; she's very… well, bodacious." Nick paused, then smirked, saying, "You're screwin' with me, aren't you?" Qrow chuckled, and said, "In any case, You're the first person I trust with her safety." _Yeah, well you're a bad judge of character,_ thought Nick, _After what I did in that infernal red wasteland; what happened to Synth because of me…_

They sat there for a moment like old friends, no sound except the whistling wind outside and the crackling fire inside. Nick sighed, shaking his head, "You're gonna have to tell her about this." Qrow replied, "Yeah, I know, and she won't be happy about it either." Nick looked out the window, and remarked, "There's a storm brewing, Qrow, One that I've never seen in a long time." Qrow added, "with Salem's puppets keeping a low profile, and the Grimm getting stronger, It looks like it's returning to the days of the Wolves." Nick turned back to his friend and clarified, "with our luck, Qrow, Salem will be the least of our problems."

A peal of thunder shook the lodge, and Nick looked up at the heavens with a sneer. "Thank you, thank you for making my point for me," he said to no one in particular.

* * *

Three in the morning… and Nick couldn't sleep. After finishing his talk with Qrow, he built up the fire to last all night, and then retired to his own room, right off the first floor bathrooms. However, the talk with Qrow brought up bad memories for him, and he tossed and turned in his cot for hours. Finally he sat up, looking over his quite Spartan bedroom: the simple cot beneath him; the desk in the corner; the locker holding his clothes and pack; the secret cache hiding the lockbox containing the deed for the lodge.

He redressed, and looked at his backpack, nothing more than a hydropack with a separable canteen attached, all filled up and ready for the trek. He sighed, not entirely looking forward to the journey.

He walked into the living room and sat right in front of the fire, now starting to get low. He put a couple more logs in, watching them smolder. He rolled up his right sleeve, looking at the scars he was never proud of; a memorial of pain. He took off his fingerless glove, and stared at the mark on his hand, the Ace of Spades true namesake. He tightened the fist of his left hand, symmetrically marked to his right. The sign he hid beneath his ancient, metal-backed, Graphene-weave, engineer's gloves, a sign that he was… different.

He grabbed a smaller block of wood and used it to stir the coals, the logs bursting into flame. He drew back into his seat, studying the piece of wood in his hands. Finally he got up and walked over to a rack by the door, and the weapons he hung on it. He drew his special knife, one he rarely used in combat, walked back to the chair, and sat down; whittling away at the piece of wood.

After a while, he stopped and simply stared out into space, doing something he did time and time again for millennia.

He wondered why he was here.

* * *

 **A/N: well, here's another long chapter I hope you liked. the next one might be sketchy, update wise, I've a ton of personal business to attend to *sigh* nothing life threatening, thankfully, unless it turns into something like _Lost._**

 **and now... the comments:**

 **GamehunterMC:** **Thank you, I'm glad you picked up on that.**

 **Constructively Criticizes:** **Oh, thanks for reminding me of that! As soon as I read your review, I up and fixed it and even improved it! I'm glad you caught that and told me; by this time I had completely forgotten about the summary, silly me.**

 **well, there was a little more about the Wolves for ya, but it's not over, there's still more about them that'll be told... eventually. *cackles hysterically* Till then...**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Side Effects may include…

Blake awoke with a start. She sat up and checked the time on her scroll; 5:23. She quietly groaned, Knowing she wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep. Slipping silently out of bed, Blake walked downstairs, and found someone sitting in front of the crackling fireplace, whittling.

She tried to sneak past him, taking one step… two… three…

"Bad dreams?" he said, without even turning around or lifting his head, making her jump. She hesitated, not sure if she should reply. He turned to her, saying, "Have a seat," motioning to a chair next to him. She slowly, tentatively made her way over, never once taking her eyes off of him. She couldn't shake off the feeling that he wasn't normal.

"If the knife's bothering you, I can put it away," he offered. She shook her head. He put it aside anyway. She sat down, still keeping her eyes on him. An awkward silence filled the air between them. Nick finally asked, "So what _is_ bothering you?" Blake's bow twitched at that, along with her face.

After a moment, Nick said, "Don't wanna talk about it? That's okay." Blake took a breath and asked, "Are you really one of the Four Wolves?" He shifted his jaw like he did, then finally answered, "Yes, I was one of them." He put another log on the fire. "The White Wolf," he finished.

She simply sat there, amazed at that revelation. "I hear it's tough being a faunas these days," he said, giving her a slight shock. _Does he know_ , she thought. He continued, "It wasn't something we wanted, although admittedly it's always inevitable." "What do you mean?" she asked. He looked at her and simply explained, "Human Nature, people always find someone to hate." Blake somberly agreed with him. She looked up at him and saw in his eyes that he was talking from experience.

She sighed and said, "There's something I need to get off my chest." Nick slightly nodded, boding for her to continue. "I used to be an operative of the White Fang; I left nearly a year ago and joined Beacon Academy…" she hesitated, waiting for an outburst from the other chair's occupant. "Good for you," he said, to her surprise. She waited a moment, and then said, "Can I ask you something?" The fire snapped and popped as he replied, "Shoot." "Where are you from?" she said, "The Four Wolves appeared out of nowhere, and I want to know where you're from."

He ran his hand through his curly white hair, exhaling a deep breath. "Can we take a walk?" he asked, sighing.

* * *

A peal of thunder rumbled in the distance, announcing the rainstorm passing by. Pyrrha awoke with a jolt. She sat up in her alcove shelter and grabbed her stone-headed spear. Getting into a crouch, she stayed there, listening. After a moment, she cautiously stepped out of her hut. Holding her spear at the ready, she looked around. Not finding anything threatening, Pyrrha headed back into her hut. She sat down in the dirt of her wood-and-mud built hut, dropping her spear next to her.

It had been two months or so since she arrived in this place –realm, dimension, whatever one would call it. Since then her ankle healed as best it could, she explored part of the forest, but only within three hundred or so meters from the tree line, built her hut practically around the alcove, and, most of all, she missed her friends terribly. Her eyes misted over as she thought about Jaune, wondering how he was coping with her…

She broke down and sobbed, not wanting to accept that reality.

A faint voice drifted on the air. To Pyrrha, it sounded vaguely familiar. She took her spear and crawled out of her shelter. She climbed on top of the tallest rock and tried to locate the sound. It called out again, from the forest to her right. She couldn't see anything when she looked in that direction.

When she reached the end of the tree line, the voice sounded again, calling her name. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard it; it sounded like Jaune. As she ran toward the voice, several whispering voices started to ring in her ears, but she paid them no mind. She ran with all her might, anxious to see him again. She entered a clearing, and Jaune's voice called out from her left as clear as day, _"Pyrrha!"_ She turned… And no one was there.

" _Pyrrha!"_ behind her, with a note of urgency…

She turned, to see the same result. A frigid hand touched her shoulder, sending a chill down her spine. She turned, and saw a mound of dirt in the middle of the clearing. _"Why Pyrrha, why..."_ Jaune's voice calmly said as she walked over. A hole was there; not a hole, a grave, and in it, lying prone, was a burnt-up skeleton.

…A burnt-up skeleton wearing her circlet. _"Why did you have to die?"_ the voice echoed through the forest.

"I had to stop Cinder," she lamely replied, looking up.

No answer.

"Jaune, I'm sorry," her eyes teared as she wailed. She looked back at the grave, only to find it missing; disappeared as if it never had existed, replaced by a patch of the wild grass that grew there. She sank to her knees, sobs shaking her body.

* * *

Her airship made a pass over the mountain. The closest landing area was at the village. They came in for a landing, and Weiss watched from her window. However, unbeknownst to them, two pairs of eyes watched their decent.

"Well, you don't see that every day," Nick told Blake as they watched. He snickered, "they're looking for me." She looked at him, "How could you possibly–" "The Atlasian military wouldn't give two craps about Nefalhaymn if it weren't for me," he retorted.

A silence filled the space between them. "Well, I'm headin' back," he said, as if nothing happened. She looked at him in disbelief. "The Atlasian military in invading the village looking for you and you're acting like it's nothing more than a school bus drop off?" He looked at her, then down to the village, then back at her and said, "There's only a couple of specialists, nothin' more." He headed back to the lodge.

 _But this does change things,_ he thought, _I'll have to grab the deed, I'm leaving for good._ Blake reluctantly followed him.

* * *

Winter looked back at Weiss as they landed, "I'd prefer you stay here, But I need to keep an eye on you so you won't get into any trouble." Weiss looked up and simply nodded, but rebelliously thought, _Trouble? I don't get into trouble! Only Ruby or her obnoxious sister got into trouble. I always got them out._ "Out of curiosity," Weiss asked _,_ "who are you searching for?" Winter sighed and said, "If the rumors are true, the man once known as the White Wolf; the Last of the Four Wolves; now known as The Ace of Spades, as your Professor Ozpin referred to him." Weiss perked up her ears at that, "Are you saying that _that_ old story is true?" Winter gave no further comment.

* * *

There was something nagging at Blake. As she walked beside Nick on their way back, she decided to deal with it. "How did you know I was a Faunas?" She tentatively asked. He chuckled good-naturedly and said, "Well, when you said you were an ex-member of the White Fang, that was a dead giveaway; but the first hint, really, was when your bow twitched on its own." Her bow twitched again, much to Blake's chagrin, and she turned away to hide her blush.

He stopped, almost astonished by her actions. She kept going for a few steps, but then realized he stopped. "I hope you're not ashamed for being a Faunas," he said, "I can understand hiding –what I presume are your ears– to avoid discrimination, but never be ashamed of who you are, even if you're born with it." "Do you think it's easy being a Faunas?!" she retorted. He simply shrugged, "could be worse." He walked on. "You could be like we were," he said, gesturing to himself. She furrowed her brow, "And what exactly was that?"

He paused, turned, and flashed a bizarre, Cheshire-cat like grin. "Abnormal."

* * *

Pyrrha picked herself up off the ground. She looked around, finding nothing but trees. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't know how to get back. However, when she entered the forest again, she easily reoriented herself, and made her way back to her hut. It took nearly two hours to get out of the woods. As she made her way to her outcropping, she suddenly stopped, spying movement near her hut. Crouching down, she moved to cover, and peered around the rock she hid behind. A man sat next to her tent, his back turned to her, wearing armour similar to Jaune's, in fact…

She gasped as she recognized him. Standing up, she called out, "Jaune?" He got up and turned to face her, wearing Jaune's face. He smiled a calm, reassuring, and –to Pyrrha– disarming smile. "Hello Pyr," he said, "I've missed you." She took a step forward, then two, and then ran to him. She practically fell into his embrace, moaning, "Oh Jaune, oh Jaune I've missed you too!"

The voices returned, indistinctly whispering among the rocks.

They held each other for mere minutes, before Pyrrha asked, "What's that?" noticing the voices. "Just the breeze," he dismissed, and then kissed her neck. She responded with a short gasp. He pulled back and kissed her crimson hair. Pyrrha sighed and shivered, her skin tingling. "Pyr," he said. "Mmm?" she replied, looking up with love-struck eyes. "I came here to set you free from this place; you need to pass on from here to the place you deserve to go," he continued. For a split second, barely too fast to perceive, Pyrrha saw his eyes change from his blue to an animalistic –perhaps even demonic– yellow. Cinder's eyes.

Suddenly he drew his sword, an obsidian-black tri-hander; not Crocea Mors. The motion threw her to the ground. She looked up in shock as he drew back to impale her. She rolled before the sword hit the ground. Muscle memory took over and she kicked his legs out from under him. She looked around for her spear, finding it lying mere yards away. She scrambled and grabbed it, turning around with it at the ready.

She was too late, he was upon her in an instant, and he thrust his sword through her; right where Cinder's arrow pierced only months ago. Pyrrha screamed.

 _You betrayed me Pyrrha,_ the man who wore Jaune's face twisted in anger and betrayal said with Jaune's voice inside Pyrrha's head, _You will never be forgiven for what you did._ He started to vanish like smoke in the wind, along with his sword. She sank in a fit of hysteria, the voices nearly a torrent of whispers.

 **A/N: well, here's another one. I'm still alive 'n kickin' and things are okay. I decided to post this chapter before my birthday so I won't worry about it. And yes, I didn't forget about Pyrrha.**

 **... Let's go to the Reviews!**

 **GamehunterMC** **: Thanks! I'm glad you appreciated It.**

 **TheOkWriter** **: Well, the thing is, Nick owed Qrow a Favor, that and he gets bored. although the Crazy depends on your definition... all I'll say is that he's sane... mostly.**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: oh, you might not like what's coming up. FYI, there's more to the Legend.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Comfortably Numb

 **A/N: Hi again, this chapter I just breezed (or, rather, powered) through; and that's why It's here so early!**

The group got ready early, and was out the door at sunrise, bundled up against the cold; except for Nick, who seemed to have a screw loose.

His red-checked long-sleeved flannel was worn over a grey tee. A black bandana was tied loosely around his neck and tucked into his tee collar. He wore dark blue cargo jeans –oil-stained from the knees down— with a belt that held several pouches and an axe sheath. His knife was sheathed and strapped opposite his axe on his left foreleg. His heavy-duty metal-capped engineer's boots and gloves finished off his attire.

It was a stark contrast to the winter coats the rest wore.

"How are you not freezing?!" Ruby said. He turned to them and said, "I'm used to it." "Um, how?" asked Nora. Nick got a far and distant look in his eyes, and was silent. He took a moment before answering. "I can't feel much of anything anymore," he bluntly stated. They were about to ask more, but Qrow interrupted, "Alright, let's get movin'." Nick stood there for a moment, then shrugged and said, "Well if you insist." He followed Qrow down the path.

For a while they marched on in silence, until Ruby came up to Nick and eagerly asked, "So, is that just an axe, or is it also a gun?" he looked at her and said, "Just a tomahawk." She went on, undaunted, "well, what about your knife?" "Only a bowie," he replied without missing a beat. Ruby nodded, "Oh okay, that's cool." "I will say," He said, "you have an impressive weapon, Miss Rose." He turned to look at her just in time to see her turn away and smile. "A mix of a scythe and sniper rifle… that's very unique. You take any inspiration from your d-uncle?" "Yeah, he helped me build her," she replied, stroking Crescent Rose. He nodded in understanding.

* * *

They arrived in the village early, thanks to Nick showing them a shortcut down. When they entered, Blake kept an eye out for the two Atlasian specialists, and Jaune decided to stick with Blake. Ruby, Nora, and Ren split off and did their own thing. Qrow headed for the tavern to get a room or two. Nick, however, headed for the council building.

He stopped before he entered, taking off his backpack. He drew out a sealed cylinder; a document canister. He attached a note to it and entered. He placed it in the council's meeting inbox, then left. _Now the lodge and mountain go back to them,_ He thought as he crossed the street, _now to meet the others back at the tavern._

* * *

At the Tavern bar, Qrow was halfway through his first drink. He swirled his glass, reminiscent of his deal with his sister.

A familiar voice talked behind him and he turned around, and instantly regretted it. The white-haired Specialist who was talking saw him turn around, and recognized the man on sight. "You!" Winter said, "What are you doing here." Qrow took a swallow and replied, "I'm havin' a drink." Winter stepped over to him, saying, "What are you doing in this village." "You know," Qrow said, unsteadily getting up to his feet, "I don't have to tell you anything." She glared at him. He glared back.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Tavern's lobby, Weiss sat patiently, sipping a coffee winter got her, and read a book on her scroll. She heard Winter raise her voice, and looked up in alarm. The man she was talking to kept calm, and Weiss went back to her reading. Three or four people entered the tavern; Weiss ignored them, until one of them saw her. "Weiss?" An all-too-familiar voice of a red-caped huntress-in-training said. Weiss looked up in astonishment and disbelief. "R-Ruby?"

"NORA!" interrupted Nora, to everyone's chagrin.

Weiss stood up, right before Ruby nearly tackled her in a hug. Holding her at arm's length, Weiss was the first to ask, "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Vale." "Weiss, I can't believe you're here too!" Ruby said almost before Weiss finished. Weiss looked over Ruby's shoulder, seeing Ren and Nora heading to the counter. "Do you two need a few moments alone?" the fourth person said. Weiss looked over Ruby's other shoulder to see him. The first thing she noticed was his grungy clothes, and then his mesmerizing eyes… and then his ashen-white hair. When she saw his hair she thought, _A Schnee? That's impossible. Unless…_ Ruby turned her head to look, and said, "oh Weiss, this is Nick, he's gonna help Yang." He held up his hand in greeting, "Shalom Aleichem."

Weiss looked at him in curiosity, "Nick who?" he was about to answer, but a commotion followed by the ring of metal on metal stopped him short. He swore under his breath as he breezed past them to the barroom, thinking, _what in Hellfire is going on in there?!_

* * *

Yang sighed and finally sat up. She slid out of bed, slowly, and cautiously stood up. She smiled at her achievement; now to hunt the next one. She took a breath, and then a step, and then her legs buckled, too weak to handle the strain, sending her falling to her knees. She exhaled, giving a sob, and then pounded the floor in frustration and anger.

She stood back up and walked, unsteadily, to her door. Her eyes flashed red as she turned the handle with her only hand left. She stepped through the house, drawing strength from her aura. As she approached the back door, determination, anticipation, and fear coursed through her body. She threw open the door and rushed outside, letting the cold impact her loosely-clad body. _This feels good,_ She thought, _with my luck, Uncle Qrow's friend is an old prosthetic specialist._ She stayed out there in the winter outside for a few minutes, and then went back inside, exhausted, and numb, but strangely comforted.

* * *

Qrow jumped onto a table as he drew his sword. He pointed it at Winter, her blade already drawn. "I'll give you one more chance Ice Queen; why are _you_ here?" She circled around him, saying, "That's classified." She stopped, "But there's some unfinished business that need's resolved," and she lunged. Qrow leaped off the table, kicking it mid-air at Winter. She leaped over it, landing in a crouch and swinging her blade at Qrow. He parried, and she swung again.

Their blades clashed and clanged again and again, as they maneuvered around the barroom. Finally, Qrow engaged the scythe form of his blade, but not before Winter stabbed at him. He leaned out of it's way. She punched him using the guard of her blade. He grinned back at her and swung. She rolled out from under his scythe, and was about to return swipe, when she slipped on a glass lying on the floor. She fell backwards, landing on her backside. The few spectating members burst out in laughter, and Winter picked herself up in embarrassment. She stalked over to Qrow, anger nearly boiling out, when she slipped again, this time on the glass' former contents. A hand was offered to help her up, and she reluctantly took it. She stood up, and her face was mere centimeters from Qrow's. Her cheeks flushed as she looked away. "This isn't over, Qrow," she said. She stormed off, nearly colliding with Nick. When she saw him in person, she could barely believe it. _Those rumors were true!_ She thought. "Are you the Ace of Spades?" she demanded.

"You first," he replied, giving a smirk, "who are you, and what do you want with me?"

 **A/N: So I'm back a record eight days after the last post. My birthday was ok, I'm still coherent so that's a plus. this was one chapter I was excited about, even though it's short-ish. It might be a WHILE before I get to the next post, so...**

 **And now, the reviews.**

 **GamehunterMC** **: well, keep practicing the art of patience, Hunter (It's okay if I call you Hunter, right?) the next chapter will have their moment.**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: well, I hate to give a spoiler, but this is only the beginning for Pyrrha.**

 **thanks guys for putting in your time reading this, even if you didn't review because it was so awesome. (or it was so horrid)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Call me Nick

Nick saw nearly the whole thing; when he saw Qrow his anger subsided. And after he saw the Specialist trip, he thought, _well, at least she landed on her arse. It might've taken her down a few pegs too._ She got up and slipped as she tried to reproach Qrow, and Nick remained a bit unimpressed. Then Qrow helped her up, and Nick saw the look in her eyes. _Uh-oh…_

She stormed off, and ran into him, the very person she was looking for. "Are you the Ace of Spades?" she demanded. In the split second before he answered, Nick thought, _Ace of Spades? Only Ozpin knows me as that; Ozpin and his cohorts anyway. What's her connection with them? She's Atlasian, so possibly an aide to Ironwood, or successor… not likely: no guards, no adjoining fleet. Who is she? And what does she want?_

"You first," he replied, giving a smirk, "who are you, and what do you want with me?" "That's classified," she said. He smiled and cheerily said, "Then screw off." He turned to leave. A glyph appeared beneath his feet, and he stuck fast to the floorboards. He looked down in confusion, then realized, _Great, she's a Schnee; this is gonna be so_ fun _… wait, a Schnee from the Atlasian Military? I thought they were Dust moguls; Capitalists._ She Stepped up to him and whispered, "I'd prefer to explain myself in private." He turned to her and said, "Well you'd better get in line and wait patiently, Miss Schnee."

She didn't like that. At the end of her fuse, she respectively said, "At least hear me out." "Will you let me go then?" The glyph disappeared. They walked outside, breezing past Weiss and Ruby. The snow crunching beneath their feet, they walked for a fair distance. "General Ironwood, the commander of the Atlasian Military, sent me to find you and bring you back with me. I don't know why or what for." He turned to her, waiting a moment before he spoke, "Alrighty then, how about a deal? You fly me, Qrow, and his band of misfits over to Patch; and I'll think about It." she turned to him in suspicion and anger. "Why are you going to Patch?!" He sighed. "Apparently, Qrow wants me to go play physician." Disgust joined suspicion in Winter. "Are you telling me that you are with that insolent-" She stopped, reigning in her fury. All he did was shrug his shoulders. "You do know that he was drunk!" he deadpanned, "yeah, so what's new? You on the other hand…" he returned to the tavern, keeping that last part to himself, leaving a thunderstruck Winter.

* * *

Weiss couldn't sit still, not after seeing her sister leading that man –Nick– out the door. "Weiss." Weiss responded to Ruby's call. "Ugh, what is it?" "Um, are you okay, you're acting kinda… antsy?" Weiss sighed, "It's Nick, I have a strange feeling about him. He never gave you or me his real name. For all you know, 'Nick' isn't even his real name." Ruby stayed silent, as did Ren and Nora. Weiss looked around at each one of them, "Look, whoever he is, he's the man Winter's been after. I don't know why she's after him…"

Blake and Jaune entered, and stood there staring at Weiss. Weiss turned and saw them, as did everyone else. "u-uh h-h-hi w-Weiss," Jaune nervously said. Blake held herself, starting to look away. Weiss rushed over and gave her a hug. She stepped back, saying, "It's really nice to see you again Blake." Blake nodded. "Thanks Weiss, I'm glad to see you too." They all sat down, making small talk.

And in came Nick, much to the notice of Weiss. She stood up. "Alright you!" he looked at her, _now what?_ "You're going to tell us your real name, now!" He deadpanned at her. "That's it? That's what you're babbling about? Sheesh." He shook his head and chuckled, "Alrighty then, It's Nicholas R. Gadsten, Nick for short." Thank you. Nicholas," Weiss sat back down, "Now why does Winter want you?"

 _Winter? Is that the girl outside? Hmm…Winter Schnee… well this girl's name is… White? No… Weiss… Yeah, that's it! Weiss… I didn't catch a last name._ Nick shrugged. "Best I can figure It's because I'm the White Wolf, of the Four." He walked into the bar, leaving Weiss bug-eyed.

Nick walked over to Qrow, sitting at his table across from him. "Alright Qrow, I got us a ride to Patch." Qrow looked at him, and swilled his second glass. "What'd you do?" Nick took a deep breath and answered, "I made a deal with her." Qrow groaned. Nick stood up and left.

* * *

Winter entered the tavern right as Nick left the barroom. _Well, she's pissed_ Nick thought when he saw her. As they approached, she drew her sword and pointed it at his chest, clenching her jaw hard enough for the muscles to bulge. He grabbed the tip with his thumb and two fingers, moving it to the side. "Alright listen, it's getting late, can we do this in the morning?" Her scowl deepened in response. Nick sighed, "Look, I don't wanna start a fight; I'd rather not get into a fight over this; in fact, _'I don't need to fight to prove I'm right; I don't need to be forgiven.'_ " Winter pulled her sword out of his grasp and pointed it at his face.

"You are going with us to Atlas, Immediately," She ordered through clenched teeth, _in handcuffs if necessary_. "Or what, you'll treat me to a shish kebab? Put your overgrown skewer away." She didn't move. "Either you take my deal, or you crawl back to your general empty-handed." She swiftly swung at him. He, quick as lightning, drew his tomahawk and blocked her blade with its metal neck. Winter stepped back and evaluated Nick, who stood calmly, his face neutral, if not sober. "I thought you said you didn't fight." He shook his head. "I'll fight if I have too, I'm a fighter; I just don't start them. You're the one looking for a fight." She swung again, this time her blade was knocked aside by a backhand. She swung again; her blade was parried by his strange tomahawk version of a fire axe.

"Take him down, Winter!" Weiss cheered. "Get her, Nick!" Ruby interjected. Qrow walked in to see what all the commotion was about, seeing Winter striking and swinging at Nick, who was parrying and lightly striking back almost faster than she was; he only slipped up once, giving her the opportunity to strike; she did, her sword slashing and impacting with his forehead. _It's like he knows her move right as she starts to make it; like he perceives things faster than we can…_ Qrow was more right than he thought. Suddenly Winter stepped back and swung a kick at Nick's wrist, disarming him. His tomahawk clattered on the floor, and she said, "Concede now." She raised her sword, pointing it at him. He simply stared at her; _I'll need to end this soon._ She thrusted her blade; what happed was unbelievable. He dodged her stab, grabbed her wrist in his left hand –pulling it to the side– and delivered a powerful jab to her exposed ribs with his right. Within that moment, he let go of her and threw a southpaw haymaker to her head. Winter staggered backwards, caught off guard by those sudden powerful blows. Nick stood there, not pressing an obvious advantage. "Why are you just standing there?! FINISH HER!" cried Ruby. He glanced at her, then back to Winter.

Winter cleared her head and focused, now a little more cautious of him. _Only someone with advanced military hand-to-had combat training could be that skilled,_ she thought. She deployed her second blade and charged. With each swing she threw, he blocked using his metal-backed fingerless gloves. Suddenly, he got close and kicked her in the gut, sending her sprawling. She hit her head on an end table, and her aura flared. Lying sprawled out on the floor, she faded in and out of consciousness, when suddenly someone gently but firmly grabbed her beneath her arms and set her in a chair.

And she blacked out.

* * *

That kick gave a sickening thud; but when Winter lay sprawled out on the floor, Nick rushed to her side, hoisted her into a chair, and checked her head. She would be out for a while, but otherwise fine. He took a bandage roll out from one of his pockets and proceeded to wrap Winter's head.

Weiss, however, leaped out of her chair, shouting, "YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Ruby and Blake quickly caught Weiss before she attacked Nick. However, a glyph formed on the floor, and suddenly a white Boarbatusk charged at Nick from behind. As fast as lightening, Nick drew his knife and spun around in a crouch, splitting the beast in two with a single swipe. He turned to them with an ashamed look; and they all stared at the deep gash in his forehead.

"She'll have a bruise and a headache when she wakes up, but she'll be fine." He sat down in another chair. They asked him something –along the lines of "Are you okay?"– But their voices were distant as his vision faded into darkness. The last thing he remembered saying was, "Her ship is outside, ready to go. We're moving out in ten. Get both of us on board or…" and then his brain went into safe mode; but he did finish his statement, "… or there'll be the devil to pay!"

* * *

 _An eternity ago… in another universe…_

The red sand stretched to the horizon, only interrupted by the dust cloud of a ground vehicle; two vehicles. They drove in silence, not needing to say anything, and observing radio silence. Their jeeps, basically oversized dune buggies with armor and gun turret, hummed beneath them. They were to meet with the 451st battalion in the mountains ahead for a joint raid on an abandoned mining colony now occupied by insurgent paramilitary forces, an Operation appropriately named Chasm Doom.

One of the men looked up and saw a blurry cloud on the horizon. "Uh, guys, there's something on the horizon, 7 o'clock." They all turned to look –except the drivers– and saw the same cloud. Only one of them spoke, and he wore the burning skull. "It's a haboob… sandstorm." He turned to the driver, "how far is the rhondezvous point?" "'Bout ten minutes, it's right up ahead."

The vast mountain range loomed before them, but the haboob raced behind.

"We'll need to bunker down ASAP." He said. A man with a two-eyed, one x'ed out, smiley face engraving spoke up with a Russian accent, "and we stay together, we lose no one." The rest agreed and stayed silent.

They arrived at the rhondezvous with little time to spare. They unloaded, tied down the jeeps, and warned the already hunkered down 451st of the sandstorm.

Then it hit. Thankfully, the mountains protected them from the full brunt of it, but still the 451st lost several men, including their CO. Burning skull met their acting commander, Maj Reginald Joanes, inside the pressurized command center. "Major Joanes?" he said, "I'm agent Yankee, commander of WP9. What's your intel?"

The major explained that the only way into the mining colony was heavily guarded. The rebels were using the facility as a garrison and supply depot. Their plan of attack was simple; the 451st would two-prong the main gate while the Special Forces team would run up the middle. Once inside, they would capture and detain as many as they could.

As he left the command center –having to stop for depressurization as he did when he entered– the man with the one-eyed smiley face with it's tongue sticking out the side called out, "Yankee!" the man wearing the burning skull –Yankee– turned to the voice, "yeah Vlad?" "The jeeps are full of sand; it will take days to flush them out." Yankee grunted, nodding. "Also, Synth has a report for you." Vlad continued, before turning to leave. Yankee, with lightning fast reflexes, grabbed Vlad's suit's armor and held him fast. "Alrighty then, brother, let's go see your sister."

* * *

Winter awoke with a throbbing headache. She groaned, trying to think clearly and remember what happened. She looked around, trying to figure things out; like how he was on a bunk in a metal hut. _And what is that droning noise?_ Then it came to her. _Wait! This is my ship!_ She slid out of the bunk, apparently the top one, and landed in a not-too-graceful crouch. Cautiously standing up, Winter made her way to the cockpit. As she passed the passenger seats, she saw her sleeping sister resting her head on her partner's shoulder, who was lightly snoring herself. Winter stopped in a daze and remarked to herself, _it almost looks like they're sisters._ She walked on; but suddenly Qrow left the cockpit. They stared at each other for a moment, before Qrow said, "Good morning, Ice Queen." Weiss mumbled in her sleep at that. Winter furrowed her brow. "What are you doing?!" she hoarsely whispered, "Where's the Ace of Spades?!"

A voice from inside the cockpit answered, "We're flying to Patch, and I'm up here. And just so you know, you can call me Nick."

 **A/N: yeah, I know what I said, "It might be a WHILE for me to upload," the thing is, this was a big chapter for me, and I wasn't sure how my schedule would work. But yes, another flashback -I like to call them flashbacks- to the distant past... or is it? If any of you guys (or gals, whichever the case may be) guessed where the flashbacks take place, type it out in your comments.**

 **and now the reviews for the previous chapter...**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: thanks, I was hoping it was a good fight scene! I never actually said Qrow was her father, I _implied_ that he _might_ be.**

 **GamehunterMC** **:** **Epic fight? did you say that it was an _epic fight?_ well, here's epic fight part two for ya, Hunter!**

 **KnightSpark** **: ugly is such a dirty word... but yes, it did get a little ugly.**

 **thanks to all who read this, it really means something to see that my... hobby... is enjoyed!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Cold Complications

Winter brushed past Qrow and entered the cockpit. She saw Nick actually piloting the ship. She tried to shake away the encroaching fog in her head. "Where are we?" Nick glanced at a monitor. "Mmm… about twenty kilometers from Sanus." Winter started to feel dizzy, suddenly she found herself sitting in a chair. "I think you should just rest for now." Someone said as she fell asleep.

* * *

It was a crisp, overcast early morning when Yang woke up. She sat up and rubbed her stump, looking out her window at the sky. She got up, changed, and decided to go for a slow walk outside. The weather wasn't pretty enough to make her depression disappear, but it was enough to make her emotions easier to live with. The cold helped numb what was left. Today however, all she could muster was a walk around the house. Her breath billowed like smoke from a dragon with each breath. Her legs started to feel like rubber as she went in and sat down. She looked over at a stack of books. _No, I've read those already._

Then she noticed the book of fairytales she used to read to Ruby when they were little, laying open on the floor. She bent down and snatched it up. From what she saw, it was opened to the story of the Four Maidens. She closed it up and put it aside, and decided to rest for a little. She leaned back into the couch and closed her eyes.

She fell asleep instantly, dreaming a peaceful meadow – _no, a wheat field._ She strolled around her dreamscape, feeling the heads of wheat with both hands as she passed. She looked down at her hands, especially her right, which was a translucent yellow-glowing image; as if her aura replaced her once severed arm, the solid-state energy sprouting out of her stump. She looked up at her surroundings; the only distinguishable landmark outside the rolling hills of waving grain was a lone tree. The tree was huge, holding what looked like a tire swing.

For a moment, she felt like she'd been here before, a long time ago.

She breathed in the fresh air in a contented sigh, lying down in the wheat. She watched the clouds meander along the azure sky, forming and reforming their shape by their own whim. She closed her eyes, basking in the sunlight…

…and found herself suddenly in the presence of another upon opening. She sat up, alarmed at the sudden appearance of a girl. Unlike Yang, the girl was completely translucent, glowing green. She giggled. _"C'mon, my sisters are waiting!"_

Yang got up and followed her. Under the tree she stopped, and they waited for the "sisters". They arrived one-by-one, all translucent, but each glowing a different color. Red wearing overalls, Orange wearing a simple dress, Green wearing an almost-sundress with a wreath of flowers on her head, and Blue in a winter coat. Yang recognized them immediately; she read about them enough to Ruby for them to be etched in her memory. They were the Four Maidens: green, the youthful Spring Maiden; red, the playful Summer Maiden; orange, the meek Fall Maiden; and blue, the wise Winter Maiden. They all smiled at her, but only the Winter Maiden spoke. _"Hello Miss Xiao Long, there's something we came here to discuss."_

Yang's eyes flashed red. _"Yeah? And what's that?"_ Winter closed her eyes and sighed. _"We don't like to tell the future, however this is a necessary exception."_ She looked at Yang with a piercing stare. _"Your destiny is about to intertwine with another, one you've met before in this very field."_ Yang looked around, the field, the tree… it was vaguely familiar; part of a buried memory of childhood. _"What do you mean?"_ she looked back at them, only to find them not there.

She started forward, sitting near the edge of the couch ready to spring out of it. Her heart racing, her chest heaving, her forehead damp with a cold sweat, she felt like she'd just had a nightmare. She looked down at the book of fairytales in a dazed confusion. She shook her head in disbelief. She checked the time, and found out she was only asleep for just over an hour.

Taiyang yawned as he walked into the room. "Morning lil' sun dragon." She rubbed her eyes and quietly sighed. Taiyang made his way to the kitchen. As soon as he left the room, Yang grabbed the book, placing it in the bottom of the pile. _'My destiny is about to be intwined with another?' where did that come from? Whywould I dream about the Four Maidens?_

She got up and joined her dad for breakfast. "So," he asked as she sat down, "what's got you up so early?" she raised her head, thought about her answer, and said, "Weird dreams." He chuckled, cracking an egg. "I've had those." She didn't reply. He cracked another egg, it sizzled on the gridle. Yang's stomach growled, provoked by the sound of frying eggs. Taiyang added seasonings to their eggs, and the smell impacted with her senses. Her mouth watered. her eyes widened. Her stomach growled like a little beast.

In a few minutes, Taiyang slipped the eggs on a couple plates, and set them on the table. He sat down behind one, grabbed a fork and dug in. she simply stared at her eggs –sunny side up– taking a bite every so often; sluggish, not from lack of hunger, but she didn't really feel like digging in like her dad.

"glad to see you up n' about." She didn't respond. He reached over and held her hand. "hey, you're gonna get your arm back soon… it'll be okay." She looked up at him fiercely, eyes crimson. "will it? will it be okay? The people who took down Beacon are still out there, the Grimm have overrun Beacon itself, but you're –we're both stuck here because of my _disability_!" Her voice darkened in odium. He stood up and said, "Well, maybe your more disabled than you think; seems to me you lost a few brain cells with that arm!" she stared at him, mouth gaping. "Y-you're such a jerk!" she groaned at his hard humor, rolling her now lavender eyes. He chuckled.

"Well, are you excited about getting your arm back?" he said after a moment. Yang hesitated, feeling her anxiety grip her chest with iron claws at the thought of her arm. "Can't wait," she lied.

* * *

"…Well as soon as we near patch, I'm gonna tell Tai we're coming." Qrow looked over at Nick, who was gazing out the window. "Who's–?" Nick started. "He's Yang's dad." Nick nodded. "You may still find her attractive," Qrow said under his breath. Nick gave a smirk. "I didn't know you were so concerned about my welfare, Qrow." Qrow looked on at his sarcasm.

A console beeped urgently next to Nick, grabbing his attention. He flipped a switch and a figure of the ship appeared on a monitor, surrounded by a circle; a dot appeared on the circle near the five o' clock position. Nick frowned. "We've got bogeys on the–"Nick checked what system it was, "motion tracker." He turned in his seat to look.

Three black birds.

"Son of a–" Nick swore under his breath. "What?" Qrow started, looking back as well, "Nevermores." He got up and moved toward the cabin. The Nevermores were closing quickly.

"Ruby! Wake up." Ruby groaned at the interruption of her dream. Her head fell to the side as she fell back asleep, landing on Weiss' head. Weiss mumbled something randy in her sleep in response to Ruby's head. Qrow was about to shake Ruby's shoulder to wake her when the ship lurched to the side. Ruby startled awake at the sudden upheaval. Weiss was not so graceful; she toppled onto the floor.

"What's happening?!" Ruby looked around in a frantic near-panic; then she saw uncle Qrow. "We've got a few Nevermores chasing us," he said. Ruby perked up when she heard that. "Ugh, you've got to be kidding me, you're not thinking of going out there?!" Weiss picked herself up off the not-too-comfy floor. "This isn't even a combat vessel."

"NO CRAP!" Nick yelled from the cockpit. The trio looked into the cockpit, seeing Nick wrestling with the controls and glancing out every few seconds; and winter stirring awake from this excitement. Suddenly, Nick yanked the controls, and the whole ship tilted dramatically. Everyone grabbed on to something. Nora squealed in delight. Jaune tried to keep his insides, inside. Winter shot out of her seat and bolted up front. "What is going on?" she coolly asked. Nick looked up at her as he leveled off. A stream of black feathers shot overhead. "Look for yourself; and after you do, could you please take the wheel." Winter counted three Nevermores, with about ten more Gryphons joining. He started to get up. "What are you doing?" he didn't even look at her. "I'm a better gunner than I'm a pilot."

She looked at him like he was stupid. "This is a cargo vessel." He whipped around. "Well, don't you have any rocket launchers?!" she furrowed her brow. "Why do you want those? How are you going to fire them anyway?" He simply asked, "Could you please tell me where they are?" She sighed, "there missile launchers, and they're in the cargo bay… but how do you think you'll–" "I'll open a hatch and fire." He cut her off as he ran off to get the launchers. Winter looked back as he left; then caught the Grimm out of the corner of her eye and pulled back on the controls in response. A few black feathers scraped the hull. One embedded itself.

Ruby looked on as Nick slid down the ladder to the cargo bay, hollering, "I could use a few guns down here." She snatched _Crescent Rose_ and followed; Nora, Ren, and Blake, not far behind. "So, what's your plan?" she asked Nick when she hit the floor. He shrugged his broad shoulders, looking around for the launchers. "I dunno, go ahead and open those side hatches and blast away to your heart's content; just leave some for me." They got right on that. Finally, he found the crate he was looking for. Ruby's rifle boomed, as did the others' guns as he opened it and hefted the launcher. He looked around, both side hatches were slid open and the four were firing away, nearly turning the air into a swarm of small arms fire. Then he spotted the floor hatch, and an idea came to mind. He hefted the launcher and opened the hatch. Nora turned around at the noise. Nick was already headfirst through the hatch, grappling the sides of the hatch with his knees.

Ruby had the Nevermore in her sights… until it suddenly exploded; Nick had it in his sights too –holding the launcher while upside down– and fired first. He crawled back out and replaced his launcher. Ren was surprised at the sudden addition of a rear-firing missile… actually, so was everyone; they all stopped and stared at nick. He looked at each of them. "What?" He bent over and was waist-through the hatch again. "He's crazy!" Ruby exclaimed. Nick didn't hear her. The airstream rushing through his hair, ripping at his loose clothes, and screaming in his ears, it was all he could do to steady the launcher with both hands; one on the trigger, the other holding the tube above his shoulder. He sighted on one Nevermore, before it spiraled to the ground; then sighted the last Nevermore and pulled the trigger. A stream of smoke flew past him in the airstream. The Nevermore saw the oncoming missile and evaded it. It exploded on a Gryphon not too far behind. The Nevermore screeched. Nick sneered. "Aww come on!"

He crawled back up and stood, then staggered. A reddish-blue haze danced across his vision for a moment. "Sheesh," he uttered as he shook his head. Then he noticed something out of place: everyone stopped shooting and was staring at him. It was Ren who spoke first. "Have you fired missiles like that before?" Nick worked his Jaw like he did when he thought about something. "No, first time actually." He turned and hefted another missile launcher. _Hell, I haven't even handled weapons like these since the war._ Before anyone else could say anything more, Nick slipped back out the hatch. Suddenly there was an explosion right on the rear of the craft. Ruby glanced outside and saw the remains of the too-close Nevermore plummeting toward the ground, and the two Gryphons nearly on the ship. She looked back at Nick, who didn't shimmy back out the hatch, but she could see him twisting; and she decided to see the other side of the picture.

Lying in her belly, Ruby leaned clear over her side hatch to see what was wrong, locking her feet in the girders. It was one of the Gryphons. Nick was swinging at it with his tomahawk. Ruby Trained _Crescent Rose_ on the large monster and fired, scoring a hit right behind the eye. Nick looked at her as the beast fell away. He shimmied back up, so did Ruby.

"Alright, you guys finish them off," Nick said as he headed for the ladder, "I'll try to keep them off us." Suddenly, the ship lurched to the side as one of the engines exploded. Nick found himself all-of-a-sudden tumbling out the side hatch, and into the airstream.

Blake reacted with feline speed, throwing _Gambol Shroud_ and holding on the end of its ribbon. For a moment that seemed to slow down to forever, _Gambol Shroud_ snaked its way across empty space toward Nick, then wrapped around his left ankle. However, his momentum nearly carried her off with him. Although Ruby held on to her to keep her from flying out, she caught her in such a way that, in any other situation, would be inappropriate.

Nick bent over and grabbed the ribbon, pulling himself up like he would on a rope. He soon found out that ropes and ribbons were different. Blake had closed her eyes from exertion, leaning halfway out the hatch; now she opened them, and saw nick making his way up her ribbon –slipping several times– but craziest of all, he was grinning the whole way. She started to pull him up with Ruby's help. He glanced to the engine –now a raging inferno– and saw a black feather skewering it. Finally, he got one hand on the edge of the deck, then both. He pulled himself up and rolled onto the deck itself, ending up on his back. Blake sat back, and Ruby collapsed to her knees, both panting from the exertion of pulling the slightly over one hundred twelve kilogram man. Blake shook her head, "you won't get away that easily." Nick chuckled.

"Blake, did you just make a joke?" Ruby asked starry-eyed. Ren was about to comment when Nick cut him off, "As much as I hate breaking up this moment, you should probably know we'll be landing soon." They looked at him. "Um, we're nowhere near Vale." Nora remarked. "I know," Nick said, "we're crash-landing." Another explosion made the ship shudder as if to accentuate his point. Everyone stared at him for a moment; then made for the ladder.

The ship thundered around them, and they were thrown backwards. Then it went dark.

* * *

Jaune stirred out of the bleak unconsciousness into the afternoon light of the white covered forest. He was lying on the ground, covered by a blanket. _Where am I? What happened?_ He looked around, to his right all he could see were trees, bushes, and snow. To his left he could see snow, bushes, and trees. He turned his head forward and stared at the blue sky. _Okay, how did I get here? C'mon Jaune, what's the last thing you remember...?_

The crash, he was thrown backwards, now he was here. His eyes glazed over as he saw black smoke float across his vision. Then he wasn't looking up at the sky, he was lost in a familiar and haunting memory.

Pyrrha's kiss, the last time he saw her.

He started murmuring to himself as the scene played out inside his mind. Suddenly, a voice broke through from the outside world. "Jaune? Are you okay?" He recognized that voice. _Blake?_ He turned to her, red barely starting to fill his cheeks. "Uh, yeah I'm fine," he said, sitting up. She sat down next to him, and he offered his blanket. She hesitated, shying away. "Here, take it." Jaune insisted. "No, I shouldn't." he looked at her in confusion. "Hey, you need it more than I do; you're starting to turn blue." He was right.

In the rush to go, Blake forgot her coat. Now she sat in the snow, her lips turning blue, trying to hide her shivering; she refused the blanket not because she didn't feel the cold, but for more emotional reasons. For reasons she couldn't rationalize, she found Jaune to be a rugged, dependable, and furthermore sensitive boy; she was starting to like him.

She slowly took the blanket from him, wrapping herself up in his warmth. He put his bare hands in his armpits to try to warm them. "So, is everyone else okay?" she shivered as the warmth penetrated. "Only a few cuts, mostly scrapes and bruises. Qrow took Ruby, Ren, Nora, and the Schnees to scout the forest."

Jaune stayed silent, staring at the smoldering engine of the crashed ship. Blake glanced at him through the corner of her eyes, seeing a flash of sorrow on his face. "Where's Nick?" he asked. She was caught off guard by his sudden question. "He went into the cockpit." Jaune stood up and walked to the wreck. Out of earshot, Blake sighed. _If only you could talk to me about this thing that is hurting you._

 _If only we were friends._

* * *

The cockpit felt colder than the snowy ground outside. It was a hard cold, but not really there. Jaune shivered as he entered. Nick was sitting in the copilot's seat, earbuds in listening to music. Jaune tapped him on the shoulder, and his eyes shot open. Pulling his earbuds out, Nick calmly asked, "Yes?" Jaune could hear the rock music, a guitar somberly weeping, and replied, "I wanna talk about something." Nick turned off his music. Jaune sat down and fidgeted. "I figured –you being one of the Wolves– that you could help; share some insight, you being a warrior…" Jaune sighed. "A friend of mine… a close friend… my partner, died in the battle of Beacon." Nick winced, but said nothing. "My partner shoved me in a rocket-locker and launched me to safety, that was the last time I saw her." That caught Nick's attention. "She… well…" "And how close were the two of you?" Nick gently asked. Jaune looked up, tears in his eyes. Nick saw the pain and the loss in them, as well as something more, love. That answered his question, Jaune didn't answer.

"I know your pain." Nick said, "The other Wolves, people I considered more than just teammates, my kin, came under the same fate as all creatures do." He sighed, "But what do you want me to do about it? Why are you coming to me with this?" Nick grunted, "Look, I found out then that people die, it happens; there's nothing you can do to stop it." Jaune looked at him, "you obviously did." Nick's face darkened. "There are fates worse than death," He said beneath his breath.

Looking out the window, Nick saw Qrow the rest return from their scouting trip. "Alright, it's time to move on." he got up and left the cockpit. He breezed by a figure right outside, one who vanished trying to hide that she was eavesdropping.

 **A/N: happy last weekend of September everyone! This is a big chapter, I know. It took long to write.**

 **I realized a few weeks ago that if I had ben posting a chapter a month, this would be out in December!**

 **Anyway, It seems that none of you could answer my question, or at least didn't want to. I'll give you another chance to guess...** **As I said before, you can give your answer in the reviews.**

 **THE REVIEWS:**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: well, here's some more action. Honestly, I kinda find it a bit hard to write action scenes like this, especially for my OC. there's so many points to cover...**

 **well, that's it. see you all next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Ramble On

 _Another world... long ago..._

They found her at the comm station. She was deciphering the radio chatter.

Yankee approached Synth –practically dragging Vlad by his armor– with a business demeanor. She looked up at him, and –although her visor hid her face– she lit up a smile. " _Plyu–_ Yankee, you're here." "What'd you want, Synth? Anything we should know?" she sighed. " _Da_ , yes." She became professional. "The rebels know we're here, the 451st at least." She looked deeply into his eyes –or where they would be, behind the skulls sockets– secretly trying to appeal to him. "They also have armed men inside the colony." "C.Q.C" Vlad noted. Yankee grunted in agreement. "There's more," she continued, "they have women and children in there. Innocent families. This is their home, and they will defend it." Vlad cursed in Russian. Yankee turned and walked a distance away, processing the information dumped on him. Vlad and Synth exchanged glances; then watched as Yankee kept going.

He heaved a sigh and hardened himself. "We don't have a choice, do we?" Although formed as a question, Yankee said this as a statement. He sighed, again, and then said, "We better keep an eye on the 451st, and our own. We don't want a massacre on our hands." A soldier passed, rubbing his suit neck trying to get at the itch from his ten-day-old nicotine patch. He looked at the operatives, and chuckled at Vlad's visor engraving. Behind the visor, Vlad beamed.

The entire team, now eleven remaining, assembled. They all prepared for the assault, checking their weapons, most of them standard assault rifles. The man who spotted the haboob was rechecking his automatic grenade launcher; he wore a twentieth-century peace symbol on his visor. A man sitting next to him was sharpening his hybrid cross between a sword and machete; he wore a pair of eye-level fangs –or serpentine irises, no one was sure– on his visor. Sitting on a rock, a woman sighted a long-range sniper rifle; visor adorned with a simple eye-level chevron. Another woman stood, cocking her .30 cal. SAW; a jagged-tooth grin spread on her visor like its mouth, a grin of malice. Across from her, Synth, Yankee, and Vlad stood, checking their standard rifle, .30 cal. SAW, and 20mm autocannon respectively. Four others wielded the assault rifle. One, a woman with the red sun decoration, first hefted a triangular anti-armor repeating rocket launcher, and fastened it to her back. Yankee checked his own heavy weapon, a five-round infantry mortar. He strapped it to his back then checked his team. "Alright," he said when they were ready, "Let's Roll."

* * *

They had been walking for what seemed like weeks, but only was a couple hours; they were about halfway to vale as the crow flies… at least that's what he said. Nick tended to stay toward the back of their troop. Ruby occasionally walked next to him, talking about Beacon, and about Yang, "I think you'd kinda like her, she strong, tough, and…um…independent. She does make bad jokes from time to time…" Blake kept sneaking glances at Jaune. She had overheard all about his loss, wishing she could comfort him. She had to use her semblance to escape being found out by Nick. Now she kept going, somewhat loathing returning to Vale, where the White Fang were looking for her.

As Ruby talked on about how Yang used to read her bedtime stories, an important Idea returned to Nick. _I'll have to get a stick. Either that or some duct tape. I should also talk to Yang's dad –'Tai' if I heard right. Re-gen ain't fun, it hurts worse than hell. She'll scream, like I did._

Qrow called them together, looking up at an impending snowstorm. They would have to make camp, and he knew it.

It started to snow.

Nick walked over to a small tree, shadowed by Ruby. He grabbed a fairly thick branch, bent it, drew his knife, and using the serrated back, sawed it off. He quickly cut it into a sixteen-centimeter segment, stripped its bark, and taking out a small file from his axe's handle, started sanding its surface. He walked back over to the group, and sat down on a rock listening to Qrow.

"We'll make camp here, to try to wait out the snowstorm. We got our bags to set out, someone needs to make a fire–" "I'll do that." Nick stated, putting the half-sanded stick and file in a pocket. "I'll get some firewood!" Ruby cheerily said. Blake looked on as Jaune said, "me too." She was about to volunteer as well, but Nick gave her a sharp glare, slightly shaking his head.

 _Does he know?_ She thought, _maybe Nick's right, I should leave him be._

Jaune picked up several dry branches. He was about to return with his bounty when Ruby's voice called out from deeper in the forest. "Hey Jaune, come here." He walked toward the direction of the voice. Suddenly, Ruby appeared next to a tall, old, dead tree. "Hey, you think this is enough wood." She drew _Crescent Rose_ and raised her to strike.

Nick had chopped away at the permafrost with the spike of his axe, leaving a ditch, and had gathered some small and medium branches and some kindling; now he took out a small, well-worn metal bar and scraped tiny shavings into the pile with the blade of his axe. When a small pile of shavings formed, he flipped the bar over to reveal a black, well-worn strip along its length. Blake and the rest of them watched as he used the blade of his axe and struck along the black strip. A host of sparks erupted; after a few more strikes, the pile of shavings sputtered and caught fire, burning quickly. The tinder caught fire from the super-hot shavings. In a minute, a fire crackled within the dirt bowl.

Nick raised his head at the sound of a falling tree. Everyone looked in the direction of the forest. Jaune came out, carrying over an armload of dry branches. "Um, Nora we may need your help." He said as he unloaded his cargo. As the two ran off for the felled tree, Nick started to chuckle, then sighed and turned back to the fire.

* * *

The fire still crackled late that night, still tended by the sleepless Nick. Everyone else was asleep, except Ruby, who was keeping watch through the snowfall. Nick heaved a sigh as he remembered his days before his arrival. He rolled up his left sleeve and profoundly gazed at the old branding mark on his inner forearm; it was still lightish-red. He remembered that day he took the red-hot specially designed brand and branded himself with it. The mark left behind was… a red hand.

"What's that?" Nick looked up at an onlooking Ruby, simultaneously pulling back his arm into its sleeve. "Don't worry about it." "Oh… okay." She stepped up to the fire and sat next to him. After a few moments, a log shifted in the fire, releasing a flurry of ashes and sparks. Ruby watched as the sparks each vanished into the clouded sky. A tear formed in her eye as she remembered that moment on the tower. She wiped it away, giving a little sob.

* * *

They broke camp with the dawn. Qrow kept an eye on the sky as they moved on down the path on their way to Vale.

Hours passed.

It wasn't the growling that alerted them to the Grimm, nor their lurking shadowy forms. Both Qrow and Nick heard them moving along with them first, long before they saw them; neither Qrow nor Nick said anything, they weren't really concerned. Winter was too busy keeping Nick and Qrow in sight to notice.

It was Blake and Ren who reacted to the Grimm first, drawing their weapons. The Grimm circled around them, blocking the path on both sides. On one end, several Ursai stood; on the other, even more Beowolves crouched. Through the trees, a King Taijitu slithered, a few Deathstalkers roamed, and a Boarbatusk grunted. The Huntsman, Specialist, and the Huntsmen & Huntresses-in-training all encircled each other, weapons drawn.

Nick had other ideas He simply sat down in the middle of them, popped in his earbuds, and listened to his music.

The King Taijitu reared a head and sprang, followed by Qrow slicing that head off. They all attacked, Grimm cut down by blades and bullets, only to be replaced. Winter leaped atop a Deathstalker, summoning a few Grimm of her own. Qrow finished off the Taijitu, setting his sights on the other Deathstalker; Meanwhile, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake tag-teamed the Ursai and Beowolves with Jaune, Ren and Nora, clearing the path. The whole fight took no more than ten minutes.

When they vanquished the Grimm, Nick stood back up, stopping his music, and said, "Well, looks like you had that in hand, it was quick." Weiss walked over and pointed her rapier in his face. He didn't flinch.

"You could've helped, you know." He looked down at her, smirking. "It wouldn't have been fair to the Grimm." He stepped around her and continued on down the path. _"It's time to Ramble On."_ They stood there, looking at one another, and then followed.

By lunch they arrived in Vale. In the weeks they had been gone, the streets had been cleared, but reconstruction had been halted until spring. Winter looked around at the destruction in silent awe. Nick glanced around in mild interest; he had seen the same thing before, several times over.

They had to wait for the ferry. Qrow took them all to the diner the four first visited, the one across the motel. Everyone got something to eat; everyone, that is, except Nick, who only asked for a glass of water. The others thought that he gets seasick; but he abstained from a meal for more religious reasons. After an hour, they boarded the ferry to Patch.

Qrow punched in Taiyang's number. When it answered, he said, "Tai, we're almost there…"

* * *

Bullets whizzed and screamed past them; some even shattering on their armour. They pushed forward, stopping only to lay down covering fire as the others moved forward.

The desert in front of them suddenly erupted, a sand geyser of reddish-orange. Two more erupted around them, all accompanied by a loud explosion. The group took cover, flinging themselves on the ground. As the sand settled, Yankee checked the progress of the 451st; both sides of the two-prong were still steady. He glanced at his own team –now down by one– and at the couple volunteer squads from the 451st. the squads had volunteered to run up the middle along with Yankee's team, Wolf Pack 9; in all, over thirty men and women ran up the middle. The old airlock was in sight, not even half a kilometer away.

Yankee signaled to charge, and they all stood up and sprinted, following Yankee and his friends. Gunfire filled the air like a swarm of locusts. Looking back, Yankee saw as someone got shredded apart; their chest turning into a bloody cavity with the spine becoming clearly visible. Over the comms, above the battlefield chatter, someone screamed, "SHEILA!" A man stopped and kneeled over the corpse slumped in the sand. He looked up in anger at the enemy… and his visor exploded in a spray of glass, blood, and a yellowish fluid. Yankee turned away, back to the front.

All of a sudden, it felt like someone plunged a super-hot spike into Yankee's shoulder. He stumbled, grabbing his shoulder, but kept moving, gritting his teeth against the pain. A bullet pierced right between two plates of armour, embedding in his shoulder.

Vlad's twenty mil. barked out, shredding into the enemy trenches and gun emplacements. Yankee and Malice Grin joined him with their thirty cal. SAWs, along with two from the volunteers. The five took point as the rest stormed the trenches. Some of the rebels who tried to surrender were slayed where they stood, but the few who survived were tied and taken prisoner. Many dropped their weapons when they realized they'd been outflanked by the 451st two-prong. Middle group now had no more than twenty-three men and women. Over eight were either shot, or blown to pieces by mortar shells.

"We've secured the outside, now it's your turn." Maj. Joanes approached Yankee; He was sitting on a crate, Synth digging the bullet out of his shoulder and sewing up the wound. "If it's all the same to you, sir," the man with the smiley-face spoke up, "we'd like for you to send some of your men with us, preferably one's who won't break and wreak havoc." Maj. Joanes stood there a moment. "Who the hell are you, agent?" Vlad bristled, "I'm Operative Alfa, second in command of Wolf Pack 9, friend of Operative Yankee." Maj. Joanes stood his ground. "A sodding Russian!" he turned to Yankee, "Is there something I should know about?" Yankee heaved a sigh. "Our reports suggest that there are civilians, innocents inside; women and children." The major cursed.

"Aw, to hell with it! Request accepted, _Agents_."

 **A/N: yeah, there was a little gore there, so don't hate me.**

 **In other news, I feel a little tired of not having any cool cover art here. Thing is, I don't have a way to get any fanart (I'm no artist, And I don't quite know how DeviantArt works.) If anyone can help, I could use your advice.**

 **The reviews:**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thanks for your support, man!**

 **GamehunterMC** **: Well, does this chapter answer your question. When I read your comment, I wasn't sure if you were being sarcastic or serious. *ha-ha and general laughter***

 **well, I guess there's only one thing left to say, "see ya later!"**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Regenerative Healing, Emotional Hurting

After breakfast, Yang shut herself up in her room. She sat on her bed, insecurity's tendrils creeping around her. _I'm not a charity case,_ she thought, _If He gives me back my arm, I'll have to do something to pay for it… to earn it; but what do I have that could pay for it?_ She fell asleep, dreaming another nightmare; this time the dreamscape took place in a forest, instead of the Beacon classroom, or her home. Snow crunched beneath her feet. Silence filled the air. Darkness engulfed her. She walked on.

Adam stepped out from behind a tree. Yang stopped, raising her naked fists. He drew his sword and advanced. She stepped forward too, but someone grabbed her wrist and held her back. She turned to see who it was. It was a woman with flowing black hair, wearing a Grimm mask; the woman from the train. Before Yang could even react, she plunged her sword through her heart.

Yang woke up with a start, sweat soaking her clothes and bed, breathing like she ran a marathon. She rubbed the spot where she was stabbed; it was fine, it was only a dream. There was a soft knock on her door.

"Yang? Qrow's on his way. He'll be here within a couple hours." Her dad said on the other side of her door. "His friend's with him, his name is Nick." _Ugh, He must be as old as dad!_ She got up and walked over to the closet, her sweat-soaked clothes sticking in uncomfortable and embarrassing places. She changed out of these, putting on fresh ones. She looked at her dad's jacket that he gave her, its right sleeve tied off.

She reached for it, thinking, _well, let's get this over with._ She put it on as she left her room. Following her dad into the living room, she asked, "So, who is this guy? I'd at least like to know a little about him, like if he's a trained professional." Taiyang sighed as she sat down on the couch. He grabbed something off the table he'd put there after breakfast, anticipating this moment, and handed it to her. "Well, here's something about him, in this book, and this is only the beginning." She looked at it, its cover read, _The annotated Legend of the Four Wolves: the definitive edition._ A picture of four wolf heads, arrayed with each looking at the four covers of the book adorned its cover. The book itself felt heavy and was a good inch and a half thick. Yang looked back at her dad, stupefied.

"Is this a joke?!" he sat in a chair next to her. "You can't be saying he's one of the Wolves." "Yang, just read it." she looked back down at the book, turning its cover. The contents listed the introduction, the story, and the several appendixes in the back. Another page turn revealed the listing of the many colored illustrations- both new and original- throughout the tale. _Well, at least there are pictures._

She closed the book, but kept it in hand as Taiyang said, "Qrow told me about Nick a long time ago, before you came around. He said that he saved Summer from near death. According to Qrow, as summer recovered in his cabin, he told them the Legend so vividly that it wasn't much of a surprise when he said that he was one of the four wolves. I didn't believe Qrow at first, but then I read this; now I guess we'll both find out for certain." He chuckled. She grunted in agreement.

He leaned forward and held her only hand. She tensed at the contact, becoming as still as a statue. She turned her head away from him, pain and sorrow coursing through her system. He patted her hand, sighing, and got up; he left her alone.

Yang needed something to occupy her thoughts, or else they'd be oppressed by those traumatic memories. Her eyes drifted across the room, and settled on the book in her hands. _Well, there's nothing else to do, and if there's time…_ she opened up to the introduction. It explained that the story, gathered, compiled and derived from various ancient documents and word-of-mouth stories was, in summation, the complete story to the best of knowledge. Effectively, the story was retold as close as possible to the original stories scattered around the world. _Well' here goes._

She turned the page.

 _Chapter one_

 _It was an age of darkness… but the age was coming to an end. On the seventh day of the twelfth month_ _near the village of Shanot_ _four travelers appeared…_

* * *

The village was fairly large for the area, they noted as they approached. But what was left was also poorly defended, the mere picket walls surrounding the part still standing shattered in places, no arrow loops, no towers. It was a miracle it was still inhabited and not just a razed heap. The old stone-and-wood wall that had protected them before had been thrown down. And the houses inside were near-desolate skeletons.

The four paused on a hill, overlooking the scene.

"No moat, barely a fence protecting 'em? From what I see, very few men between sixteen and forty years still alive, the rest look like women and children," one said; he spoke with an accent. He looked up at the others. They only nodded.

"Well, nothing worth standing up here. Let's go meet these people." Another said, one who hefted an iron, double-headed executioner's axe. "Whadaya say Lee?" he asked the first one. A third chimed in. "Yeah, Lee-wee, how about it?" she flirtingly asked him. She smacked his rear with the butt of her spear. Almost as soon as she turned around, he goosed her, invoking a short squeal. The second and forth rolled their eyes at their smut play.

"Tabitha, Lee, both of you stow it _now,_ " The fourth commanded, hand on the hilt of his short sword. "MacGyver, what would you do to shore up their defenses?" the axe wielder, a big fellow by any means, looked over the wreck of Shanot. "Well, first I'd start by patching up and improving their fence –reinforce it, add some super punji's– then dig a nice wide moat around that; make those monsters climb up. I could also add some simple towers too, if there's time and manpower.

"Well Alistair, about after that I'd get that old wall built up. I think you'd train a decent militia out of them." Alistair nodded. "Well brothers, we've got work to do," he said, hefting his large buckler on a shoulder, "Let's roll."

* * *

 _The village had survived an attack by creatures of Death_ _during the night and the previous day. When the four arrived, the villagers' impression was that of wonder and suspicion. The warriors all had a strange plate-like armor_ _, and most wore trousers with leg plates. The largest, a beast of a man_ _6_ _, wielded an executioner's ax; another, clearly a woman, wielded a spear; the one next to her was a strange man_ _, wearing what looked like a woman's skirt with only knee-high leggings and mere shoes, and wielded only a longsword_ _; the final warrior was a man with a deep countenance on his face, bearing a shield and sword._

 _When they entered the ruins, the Villagers got a closer look at them. The largest man seemed to only have one eye. The woman had dark hair and a dark complexion to her skin_ _. The strange man had the brightest red hair anyone ever saw, beneath a tilted round cap with a red ball in the middle. The final warrior had the most mysterious eyes, each a different color, under golden – almost but not quite sandy– blond hair. All of them had a hardness –like that one gains in war– in their countenance, mixed with a brotherly kindness._

 _Some climbed the wooden wall to get a good look at them._

 _When they approached the gate, the gatekeeper called out, "Who are ye, and what thy business here is?"_ _the beast answered with a queer response, "we're here to build ya up, and defend ya from those monsters. To train you to not only hold them at bay, but to push them back to the pit from whence they came."_ _The gatekeeper called for–_

There was a knock on the front door. Yang jumped at the sound. She turned and looked at the door as her dad came to answer it, and made a split-second decision. She got up and bolted to her room before he opened the door. She didn't know why she did it; it was more like a feeling, an instinct to flee from the man her uncle brought to "help" her. As soon as she closed her door, she crumpled to the floor, sobbing. She was angry at herself for running, for not standing and facing him.

Her dad called up to her, but she didn't really hear him.

She finally sat up and tried to get a hold of herself, when she noticed that she was still holding the book. It was even open to the page where she left off.

* * *

They all walked up the drive, Nick ending up in the middle. As Qrow rapped on the door, Ruby took Weiss and disappeared around the corner of the house, Blake following to make sure they didn't get in trouble. Winter seemed to regard this with a certain icy air, staying with Qrow and the subject, Nick. He, himself, saw this with a mild interest. Taiyang opened the door. "Hey Tai," Qrow said. "Qrow, come on in." the blond said, warily eyeing Winter. When they all got inside, Taiyang turned to Nick. He was surprised at how young the man looked, even with his scar. "You must be Nick," Nick looked straight at Taiyang, who thrust his hand out.

"Well, I was the last time I checked," he replied, shaking Taiyang's hand with a firm grip. Taiyang turned to Qrow. "So, where's Ruby?" "I don't know; she just ran off with her partner." Qrow took out his flask, to nearly everyone's chagrin.

"May I sit down?" Nick said, gesturing to the sofa. "Yeah, sure," Taiyang replied, "Yang ran upstairs a minute ago, I'll call her down." Nick tried to wave him off, but Taiyang walked off, and a moment later called out, "Yang! We've got company, so get down here young lady!" he walked back to find Nick still standing, with a mild, if not neutral expression. "Respectfully sir, I'd like to have a talk with you first about the procedure." Taiyang sat, "Wait, you're going to fix my sunny little dragon's arm, right?" Nick grimaced, but sat down in a chair across from Taiyang, leaning forward. He took a moment to reply, but his response was unanticipated.

"No, I'm not here to 'fix' her arm, I'm here to replace it with a regenerated copy," he calmly said. "I– Okay," Taiyang stated. Qrow and Winter stayed silent, but this has news to them too. "The thing is," Nick continued, sighing, "It will be very traumatic, and will scar her for the rest of her life. She might not forgive you, let alone Qrow for letting me do this. You don't have to let me though, and she can get a robotic prosthesis instead; likely as not, it would probably be better that way."

Taiyang practically fell back into his seat. Qrow looked at Nick, whose expression turned stony, and his eyes glazed over at an apparently bad memory. Taiyang took a few moments to think this over. "If it means my daughter can regain a sense of normalcy, even if it hurts her, how could I refuse?" he chortled, "Besides, she's a tough girl, I'm sure she can handle it." Nick nodded, reaching into a pocket and taking out a wooden dowel, the branch he sanded on the way there. "What's that?" Taiyang asked. "It's for her to bite down on." Taiyang deadpanned, "um, you don't know Yang." Nick gave him a look that unsettled him. "She's gonna scream in pain." "How do you know?!"

Nick stood up. "Prior experience; It'll feel like her body got crushed and set on fire." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes trying to expel his own residual trauma.

Taiyang took a shaky breath. "She'll be very angry after this." He looked up. "Should I call her down or–" Nick calmly shook his head. "No, that's fine; I'll go up to her. What you could do is talk to her a little about this." Taiyang slowly rose and said, "Alright, follow me." Nick followed Taiyang up the stairs.

Out of sight and earshot of the others, Taiyang grabbed Nick's arm and pulled him aside. "If you harm her in any way, I will hurt you." Nick said nothing, didn't even flinch at his dark statement. _So? Join the club Mr. Xiao Long; I'm already haunted by the memories of what I've done._ Nick thought. "I don't care if you're one of the Wolves," Taiyang continued, "She's my daughter." Nick shifted his jaw from side to side, and then calmly but respectively said, "I'll keep that in mind, sir." Taiyang let go of his arm.

* * *

Yang was just reading the part where they started building up the village, when someone softly knocked on her door. She looked up as her dad called through the door, "Yang, can I come in?" she marked her place, "sure dad, why not?" she got up off the floor as he opened the door. "Nick's here Yang, can we have a talk?" she sighed, giving a nod. He sat on her bed. "He tells me that the process is going to be very painful–" she snickered at that, "–and that there may be severe side effects; but it'll replace your arm good as new." She looked up at him, "do you trust him?" Taiyang paused. "He believes what he says, and your uncle vouches for him." She shook her head, "let me guess, you want me to accept, but it's my choice?" he said nothing to answer her question, but added, "He said you'd scream." She looked up in disgust. He chuckled. She thought for a moment, as Taiyang stated, "He's right outside," gesturing to her door. She finally said, "Fine, send him in, I'll do It." her eyes turned crimson as she took her dad's place on her bed.

"Oh, and one more thing," he said as he stood up, "you might be caught off guard by his appearance." "Why, is he that ugly?" she snidely remarked. He let it slide, walking out the door.

A moment passed and Yang started to wander in thought. She heard muffled talking on the other side of her door, and suddenly, Taiyang walked back in. "Yang," he said as a stranger walked in behind him, "This is Nick." He stepped aside, giving her a view of this Nick.

A young man stood there, in jeans, grey tee, and red plaid shirt. Short, curly ashen-white hair on his head, and the most stunning eyes she saw; even though they reminded her of that Neopolitan runt. "Shalom Aleichem," he greeted, raising a fingerless-gloved hand. Her dad was right, she was caught off guard; he was handsome, with a soft-spoken voice, but it was his youth that surprised her, he looked about twenty years old. Her eyes turned lavender when she saw him.

He looked down at her stump, and nodded as her dad whispered, "I'll leave you to it." "Would you like to know the process Miss Xiao Long?" her eyes remained lavender, but her expression soured as he said, "Well, first I'll have to give you an injection–" Finally she spoke to him, interrupting, "I can take pain." He stopped for only a mere microsecond, before rebutting with an odd look in his eyes, "you can try." He took out a case the size of a thick paperback novel from his small backpack. "The injection isn't a painkiller, it's the regeneration compound." He sighed and said, "The big question now, Miss Xiao Long, is how badly you want your arm?"

Her response was forceful, "I want it now if you're gonna give it to me." He sighed, and walked over to her.

* * *

When he entered her room and saw her for the first time, he felt… not much more than before. There weren't any sparks between them, no connection, no fluttering of his heart. He would freely admit she was pretty, and very attractive; she was another person with her own feelings, but he didn't feel anything more for her, he was too desensitized for that.

Now as he approached her, he grabbed a chair and sat on it next to her, placing the case on her bed. "May I?" he said, motioning to her stump. She lifted it towards him, and he gently started to unwrap her bandages. "Now don't worry, I just wanna see your arm." The bandages seemed to almost melt away, he took them off so quickly and gingerly she shivered; and when he touched her tender skin beneath, recently healed and still red, she tried but couldn't help letting loose a quiet gasp. His strong fingers gently felt her skin, inadvertently caressing her stump. He nodded and turned to the case, opening it and taking out a syringe stuck in a small vial of clear liquid.

"What's that?" she asked when she saw it, "It's not a painkiller is it?" he looked at her with a stupid smirk on his face. "This is a chemical commonly used to commit germicide, known as alcohol." She looked at him and mumbled, "Well that joke certainly kills me." He took out an alcohol swab and rubbed her stump. He stuck the needle into another vial with yellow-green fluid and drew back the plunger, as she said, "By the way, are you trained for this?" "In a way. What are you asking?" she sighed and said, "Never mind." He took out the needle and gently held her arm. "Now hold still, this might sting." He jabbed the needle through the dome of her stump, into the bone. It stung.

Nick felt her muscles tense, to the point of becoming rock hard. He pushed down the plunger, injecting the serum into her stump, and quickly pulled out the portion-sized syringe. He set it aside and took out several electrodes. "Can I ask you something?" he asked as he plugged the wires into a metal box on the other side of the case, and stuck the electrodes to her arm. "Go ahead." She replied. "What's your opinion on ghost stories?" She looked at him in dumbfounded surprise. "I don't believe them, if that's what you're asking, why?" He shrugged, "just trying to make small talk." For some reason beyond him, he took note of that.

"You'd better lay back; it'd be easier that way." She reluctantly complied, lying back on her bed. He took out the dowel. "You'll need to bite down on this." She looked at him as if he was retarded. "It's not a painkiller. But you'll hurt yourself if you don't." he handed it to her. "You act as if I can't take it," she said, "Pain makes me stronger; that's my Semblance! So stop– " he interrupted her, his tone a bit sharper than before, "you're gonna scream. I know because I did." He sighed, "I'm not gonna sugar coat it, it'll feel like hell; even though it'll only take about ten minutes, you'll pass out within three, but it will feel like eternity. You'd likely give anything to make it end." He flipped a switch on the box and it started to hum, and she asked, "how long did you stay awake?" he paused, "I was clocked at two minutes, fifty-eight seconds of consciousness; let's see if you can beat that," taking out his scroll. He sat back in his seat. "Ready when you are," she said, putting the stick in her mouth. "Alright, on three," he said. She nodded, preparing herself. "One–" He pushed the start button.

For Yang, it felt like she'd just been crushed and set on fire from the inside out. She screamed, but the stick helped muffle the sound; it made a crunching sound as she bit down hard on it. The last coherent thought through her head was, _What the Hell happened to 'two'?_

* * *

When she woke up, Yang was feeling a buzz across her whole body, especially where her right hand should have been. "Come on, wake up _Hero_ , you beat my record." She looked up at the speaker, meeting his heterochromic eyes… mystifying eyes. She sat up, grunting and moaning. "Jeez, what just happened?" "It worked; you've got a new arm, no payment necessary." He held out his right hand for her to take. She did, her mind still groggy, and he lifted her up to her feet.

Suddenly, she realized what he pulled when they started. She launched her fist, her right one. He flew across her room, landing on his face. "YOU JERK!" he picked himself up as she fumed. He was about to reply, paused, shifted his jaw, and spit out something white; it rattled on the floor like a pebble. "Well, your arm's strong, that's a good sign." She wasn't amused. "What happened to two?" he sighed, "In my experience, people tend to tense when you count to three. It's better for you to be relaxed as much as possible when you start." "That's bull." He nodded. "You know, you beat my time by eight seconds." He reached for the door as she advanced on him, grabbing him by his shirt collar. "Hey, now look miss–" she huffed, "Just call me Yang, Nick." She looked down at her right hand. It felt… different.

"I'm sorry."

She looked at him, confused, and saw the sorrow in his eyes. "You'll carry this feeling that that arm isn't yours; I know, and I'm sorry to place this burden on you." Then his mood changed and he said, "can you please let me go?" she was taken aback at this sudden change. She let him go, giving him a punch in his shoulder.

 **A/N: Well, one month has passed already! lot of stuff has happened. I finally have accepted Pyrrha's death in cannon. (Don't worry she's still around in here.) I think I should get a DeviantArt page up or something.**

 **anyway, the chapter 10 reviews...**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Hmm, I prefer stuffing, but filler works too.**

 **GamehunterMC** **: The song has the same effect on me too. others include, but are not limited to:**

 _ **I Apologize**_ **by Five Finger Death Punch,**

 _ ** **Monster****_ ** **by Skillet, and****

 _ ** **Lesson From a Nomad****_ ** **by Zack Hemsey.****

 ** **yeah, Nick is part go-with-the-flow, and part I WILL NOT BE MOVED! but just wait till I reveal all... you might hate me.****


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Lost and Found

It killed him inside to hear his sunny little dragon scream out in her room, a mix of terror and pain… mostly pain. He knew he couldn't help her; even though his instinct was to rush up the stairs, Taiyang restrained himself, although his eyes moistened at the effort. Three minutes she screamed, then silence; the silence was much worse, and Taiyang bounded up the stairs. Qrow wasn't too far behind. Nick was sitting in a chair, near the foot of her bed. He looked up from a metal box as Taiyang and Qrow entered. "Is she okay?!" Taiyang demanded. Nick nodded, "A bit better than okay, she managed to stay awake for over three minutes; everything's going right, I'll wake her up in about ten minutes or so."

"So, no unforeseen complications?" Qrow asked. Nick leaned back in the chair. "Not yet, outside of her temper." Suddenly, the chair's leg gave way with a crack. Nick fell backwards with the chair, twisting so that his shoulder took the brunt of the fall. Unfortunately, his foot caught a cable connecting Yang to the box. His momentum popped off the electrode from her arm; but bent the jack in half. Nick landed with a thud. The machine started to beep, to the attention of Taiyang. Qrow knew what was going on, "I'm sorry Tai, I should've stayed downstairs," he said as he started to leave, trying to keep the effects of his semblance to a minimum.

"What's that?" Taiyang urgently asked, motioning to the box. Nick rolled to his feet, examining the cables, finding the one that he pulled. He examined the male jack, finding it broken; he set that cable aside, drawing out a plastic baggie with a spare cable inside. "Well, I guess we're a little lucky after all; no worry, Mr. Xiao Long, just gotta get this cable in place and she'll be fine." He stuck the electrode onto Yang's arm, right where the old one popped off, and plugged in the cable. Taiyang tool note that through all this, Nick kept his cool. The box stopped beeping, returning to its soft hum.

Taiyang breathed a sigh, a release of tension, "I think I should go back down, you've got it up here." Nick nodded, leaning against a wall.

* * *

Eight minutes in, and Nick kept one eye on his equipment, the other on Yang. Her arm was mostly formed now, almost to the wrist. The thing was, in spite of his training, Nick started to get… distracted. Memories of his childhood invaded his mind. All but lost times of happiness and adventure with his older brother and sister in their hometown near the foot of those huge, rocky, snow-capped mountains, long gone. A tear formed and rolled down a cheek as the images enveloped him.

The door creaked open, moving him out of his reverie. He looked up, expecting to see someone there; no one. Something touched his leg, and he looked down, seeing a black-and-white corgi looking back, ears perked. Nick knelt down and scratched between its ears. As He did, he peeked at its tags. _Zwei, okay,_ he thought, _I wonder where the first one is._

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs. With lightning-fast reflexes, he quickly turned to the door, shifting his jaw forward to amplify his hearing. He heard a second pair of footsteps; now both halfway up the stairs. By the time the two were in the hall, Nick could tell by the rustle of their clothes that one wore a cape –presumably red– and the other had a longer skirt, along with the tinkling of some jewelry. Ruby and Weiss stopped in front of the door, and Ruby peeked in.

"Um, how's it going?" she asked. Nick simply nodded in reply. She opened the door further, asking, "can I –uh, we come in?" He shrugged. Weiss stood there and glared at Nick. He glanced at the box, _one more minute._ Weiss looked down at the corgi at Nick's feet, and her expression softened, "aww, there's my cute little fur ball!" Ruby snickered, as Weiss rushed over and scooped up Zwei, squeezing him. Nick stepped out of her way, muttering, "Well, you must _really like_ the dog. Anyway," he turned to Ruby, "She'll be waking up shortly, it might take a few minutes or so, but she'll be up." Ruby nearly burst from that, "ooh, thank you! Thank you so much for helping us!" The machine stopped humming.

Nick turned around and looked over Yang's arm. _Elbow, wrist, palm, fingers, everything looks right –even though she has the scar; you know... she's got some pretty hands…_ He slightly shook his head, starting to take off the electrodes; _where the hell did that come from?!_

"Well, we just came up here looking for Zwei," Weiss stated, catching the look in his eye, "I think we'll leave you too your work." Ruby started to object, but Weiss grabbed her by the arm, holding Zwei in the other, and rushed out, whispering in her ear.

* * *

It had been about midday when Pyrrha arrived; and since then –it could've been her imagination– the sun never seemed to set, until now. She stood atop the rocks, gazing at the sunset. She held herself, her spear within easy reach, and she flinched at every tiny noise. That… thing that wore Jaune's face had come again, in her sleep. Her face and neck still held the fresh bruises and cuts from his –its ambush. It had deceived her in her own dreams; but then her dreams turned into reality. She shuddered at the all-too recent memory of it violating her; it made her sick.

The sun slipped below the horizon, and while twilight still lit her way, Pyrrha started to climb down. She saw the darkness coming like an invisible fogbank –a shadow not being cast, but still there– its shadows creeping around the rocks like animated tendrils of an obscene creature. Running for her life –or that's what she felt like– Pyrrha dodged and scrambled her way back to her dwelling. She saw her hut, merely a hundred feet away, and hope lit inside her. Then the darkness enveloped her, and it seemed like someone flipped a switch. She lifted her hand in front of her face; she couldn't see it.

The thing was, this darkness was so dark it felt like it pressed in on her. She crouched down and crawled on all fours toward the last place she saw her hut. After several feet, she keeled over from a growing pain, it was everywhere. She kept moving, starting to bite her tongue from the pain. Several more yards, and she wanted to cry out, chewing her tongue. Suddenly, she ran into the side of her hut, quickly feeling around for the entrance. As soon as she entered, she was blinded by the light inside. Her pain started to quickly recede as her eyes adjusted to the low light of the low fire. She collapsed in a tired heap, her skin covered in small sores.

She edged her way toward the fire. _That darkness… I could feel it,_ she thought, _and the pain… what kind of night is this?_

* * *

 _What is it about him that's so fascinating?_ Yang asked herself as she looked at Nick. _I've barely met him, and yet I feel like I've seen those eyes before._ She stepped back to get a better look at him, saying, "Haven't I seen you before?" He looked into her eyes and shrugged. She slightly squinted, trying to place him, when something clicked. _The deep countenance, the multi-colored eyes; his hair is white, not the blond I expected. It's him, the warrior Alistair._ She crossed her arms and smirked, but there was something else there, something more, something about him, about his eyes that struck a personal chord within her. _Wait, I've seen those eyes before… but where did I…?_

He held a relative eye contact with her. "You know, I'm not just another pretty face," he joked, poking fun at her staring. She cracked a slight smile. "By the way, there are some friends of yours who'd like to see you." Her smile faded as quickly as it formed, her face turning stern. He moved to open the door, but she said, "Wait, there's something I want to tell you first." His hand left the handle.

She closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath, and then opened them again. "I'm _really_ in your debt," she looked up at him –he was a couple inches taller than she– and continued, stepping closer, "I have a really hard time believing you won't accept payment." She stopped less than a foot from him, close enough to smell him, a nice, earthy, dirt-like smell with fresh pine laid in, "I'll find a way to earn my arm, by any means." She opened the door and walked out, Nick not too far behind. He had held his tongue, but his thoughts were unbridled. _Go find someone else girl, someone who'd be a better fit than me. If you really knew what I am,_ _monster in the flesh that the mind won't believe_ _, you'd turn and run. Besides, I'm not interested, even though you're very bodacious. In fact, I've never been interested in anyone for all my life… and in this state too._

When they had reached the foot of the stairs, Nick looked out the window; it was snowing. As Yang entered the living room, Nick stayed back. Ruby was the first to say anything, literally charging and hugging her sister, "Yang! You're okay! I–" She broke down at that point, "I'm so sorry!" She said, shedding tears, "I didn't stay and help you, I was going to leave and find Cinder–" Yang hugged Ruby back, "I love you too." Ruby squeezed her in return, burying her head in Yang's side. Nick watched for a moment, but then slipped out the back door. Blake shied away when Yang looked at her, saying nothing. Weiss stepped up behind Ruby and said, "I'm _really_ happy that you got your arm back, Yang!" Yang held out a hand to Weiss, and they embraced.

Yang looked back to Nick, but he wasn't there. She started to unconsciously rub her arm; especially where her scar was. _Where did he go? I wanted to talk with him later; hmm, it don't matter. He better not have left._ She sighed and turned around; and looked at Blake, who started to fidget. Yang sat down next to her. "Yang, I know what you're going to say, and–" Blake started, but Yang interrupted her. "After all we've been through together, you ran," she stated, her voice bitter, resentful, and hurt, "When we needed you the most: when Ruby was in a coma, and I was in the hospital, you ran out on us." Yang finally looked at Blake, into her eyes, and demanded, "Why?" Blake looked away, drawing a jagged breath. Ruby stepped up to her sister, "Yang? Please–" Yang turned on her, "No Ruby, I need to know." Everyone was taken aback at this; Yang turned back to Blake.

She closed her eyes and explained, "Before you charged into the cafeteria that night, Adam told me that he wouldn't stop until everyone I hold dear was dead, just to hurt because I betrayed him and left the White Fang." Yang sat there in silence as Blake continued, rubbing her belly, "He stabbed me, and cut off your arm to prove that. I ran because I would, and always have hurt the people close to me." Everyone was stunned from that. Yang said nothing, but simply nodded, trying to not succumb to a terror attack.

"You hurt us, you hurt me more than anyone else has, or ever could," Yang said as she got up, eyes crimson, "I wouldn't expect forgiveness if I were you."

* * *

Qrow knew he had to tell her, but he was hesitant to bring up anything about Raven. Yang had developed an obsession with her when she was a kid, that night he rescued her and little Ruby from those Grimm was proof. But now his deal with his sister, and the choice in the deal, really made things complicated; with Winter nearly hounding him, and Yang's arm healed, and the fact that Nick never answered him about this. Qrow took a deep breath and walked to the living room.

He caught Yang leaving the living room. "Hey Firecracker," he called, she turned her head, "I've got somthin' I need to tell you." She looked at him with mild interest and he added, "You might wanna sit down, this involves your mom." They moved to the kitchen and sat, Qrow in a chair, Yang on the counter. He sighed, "It also involves Nick… and especially you. About a couple weeks ago, while I was tracking down Nick to get you a new arm, your mom and I met at a bar. She never said it, but she commissioned me to find a guardian for you. I thought, since he was on my mind at the time I guess, that a good choice would've been Nick. She reluctantly agreed, with an exception: _'_ _I want him to help her, train her to survive, and to be loyal to her.'_ That's what she said, those words, in that order." "What gives her the right to do that?!" Yang said, very cross, "She never was around, she left me… and dad, but she wants you to _hire a guardian to, what, protect me?!"_ Qrow sighed, taking out his flask. Yang calmed herself and said, "so, you chose Nick, the warrior Alistair?" Qrow looked up in surprise. "I figured out he was Alistair upstairs: 'A blond, multicolored-eyed man with arms of steel and a deep countenance on his face;' describes Nick to a T," she said, paused, then asked, "Do you know why he changed his name?" Qrow took another swig and replied, "no, I don't know; apparently, there are some things in Nick's past that he doesn't share." He rose and stated, "If you want answers, talk to him."

Yang looked on as Qrow left, and then turned to the back door. Nick was outside, sitting in the snow… with nothing more than what he had on before, a dusting of snow covering him. She slid open the door and stepped up to him. He turned to her, "Yang," he said, acknowledging her. "Alistair," she said, expecting him to react to his old name. He did. "So you've read about me," he said. "Yeah, I've read about you," Yang said, "and I'd like you to answer a question." She squatted in the snow next to him. "Why did you change your name? Only people who are running from something –or someone– change their name; people who hide." He looked at her, thinking, _oh, you've got things a little backwards Yang._ She looked back at him. "The Alistair I read about wasn't a coward, so what made you change your name? Alistair–" she said, starting to reach for him. He just sat there, shifting his jaw, mulling over her questions and his response. _That's curious, why would you want to open up my past, when there's no need?_ Her hand gripped his shoulder, and she felt his muscles tighten, strong as steel, at her touch; the same reaction she'd given her dad.

He coughed, and said, "I changed my name to Nick for a reason: because it's as real a name as I have, more real than Alistair." "W-what are you talking about? Are you saying that Alistair isn't your name?" He nodded, "that's my alias, Alistair Fiddle." He tried to rise and walk to the door, but she held him fast. "Just answer one more question, and tell me the truth I'm looking for. What did you do before you were at Shanot?" he sighed and said, "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me. _I've come to find the truth is much stranger than what it seems._ All I'll tell you is that the Legend you know –of the Four Wolves– is only half the story. For right now, your hunt for explanations and answers you need ends there." He shook off her arm, stood up, and said with a mischievous smirk on his face, "you better come in; you'll catch a cold down there." She stood up and muttered, mostly to herself, "pretty soon, I'll get back in shape, get my strength back; then I'll make you sorry." Nick heard her and said under his breath, "Curiouser and curiouser, Sun Dragon."

 **A/N: Happy holidays everyone! Boy, I don't know about you, But I sure would dream for a white Christmas, or any white at all (where'd the snow go?)! I hope you all have a very good year too!**

 **now with the holiday part said, and with nothing more to do...**

 **THE REVIEWS!**

 **GamehunterMC** **: Hmm, yeah, I guess it does in a way; but I had to play it over and over to see it.**

 **Tondori: Ok, first watch your language! There's a time and place for it, and the reviews ain't one.**

 ** **now, I'm absolutely glad you like the updates, and the Pyrrha thing... you'll have to wait and see. there are lots of ways to mess things up, you'll have to wait though, I'm not giving freebies.****

 ** **so... outside of me bearing through bouts of writers block and depression, I'm having a good time.****

 ** **see ya guys later in the next update!****


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Teachings of a Nomad

28:17

Yang flopped onto her bed that night –not long after her nice talk with Nick– not realizing how exhausted she really was. She fell asleep instantly, at first dreamless. Then she opened her eyes and sat up in the wheat field. She was looking around at the waves of grain, when her eyes fell on the massive tree. She hiked up to it, keeping an eye out for the Maidens. There was something about the tree that just seemed… like she was emotionally attached to it in some way. She stepped up to the trunk, going round climbing over it's massive, knurly roots encircling it, looking for any sign of the Maidens; she wanted to talk, she wanted answers.

A strange feeling overcame her, like she wasn't seeing something; or that what she needed to see wasn't on the ground. Her eyes drew up, following the trunk of the tree, and memories of climbing the very same tree came to mind. _When have I climbed this thing? I've only been here recently, right?_ The answer came to her almost immediately. _I_ have _been here before, when I was six! I remember… I climbed this tree–_

Then she saw _it._

The one thing she didn't expect; something high in the tree, hidden, camouflaged by the tree's very leaves and branches. When she saw it, she remembered; it looked just like she remembered it, a little shabby, but still strong. She even remembered how to reach it.

 _It_ was a treehouse.

She climbed the tree, planting her boots in the same places, the same knots, branches, and crooks as she used to. After about fifteen feet, she came upon the dirtied-up steps built out of mere toot-long segments of some two-by-fours, anchored deep into the massive, strong trunk. She quickly ascended, climbing up to the treehouse's trapdoor. All this was almost second nature –a familiarity from memory– to her; but, somehow, the treehouse itself –brilliantly crafted and built– still eluded her memory, especially its interior… and its craftsman. She pushed the trapdoor open and climbed inside.

It was a little musty, a dampness in the air almost like that in a forest after a rain. Surprisingly, the interior wasn't all that bad; in fact, the whole treehouse was fairly large, maybe about twelve-by-twelve square, around a two-foot thick trunk. Yang could see "windows" two per side, a table by one wall, a mattress by another; but what amazed her was a doorway leading out to an outdoor balcony. She walked around the roomy treehouse, standing upright with room to spare, taking it all in. she looked back at the trapdoor, lying open, and she walked over and nudged it closed with her foot; it banged shut. For a moment, she feared she would suffer another panic attack, but it didn't come. She stepped back, and bumped the mattress. She looked down at it, and noticed something wedged between it and the wall. She knelt down and picked it up. It looked like an Ursa, but it didn't have spikes or plates, or glowing eyes, it wasn't pitch-black, and it looked almost cartoonish. It was a brown, soft, fuzzy stuffed animal; with short, round ears, a bobbed tail, sewn-on eyes, nose, mouth, and –she guessed– claws on its sausage-like arms and club-like feet. Its belly was a lighter, almost tan color. She remembered it; the memories making her eyes moisten. _It was the first thing I got here. A… uh… bay-err? Yeah, a Teddy-Bayer. How do I know that?_

She stood up, "Bayer" still in hand, and looked over the treehouse again. She saw something, about chest height, on the tree: an engraving. It was a pair of initials, inside what looked like a pentagon. She was surprised that it wasn't the cliché heart; but as she looked closer at the initials, she became disturbed. A notion began at the back of her mind, and then led to a vague memory. It was evidence that when she was little, she wasn't always alone here; there was another:

Y+E.

Yang and… "E"? The memory came to her in bits and pieces. She could remember that "E" was a boy, a little taller than her, about a year older, had brown _–chestnut, actually–_ hair, had cute dimples when he smiled, and there was something odd, mysterious. Even magical about his eyes; but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure it out. _Those eyes feel familiar, somehow._ She vividly remembered, however, that she had been endeared to him in a way: they both were looking for someone at the time; her for her mother, him for his father.

She sat down on the mattress then fell on her side as the memory –what she could remember of it– emotionally hit her.

* * *

At 0430 hours, Nick left the Xiao Long residence; leaving behind his pack, utility belt, tomahawk, and his special Bowie knife. He walked into the woods for nearly an hour… then collapsed in a snowy clearing, fists clenched, body shaking. He sputtered and gurgled, back arched as if in pain. He fell backwards, in a spasmodic fit. He pulled at his hair. He looked up at the heavens in anger and agony. Finally he turned to his side and curled into the fetal position, weeping the only thing he said, over and over again, was, "My God, my God, why have I forsaken you?!"

Another convulsing, sputtering, angry and agonizing fit took him, this time all he could mutter was, "… agents of evil in the heavens!" Tears fell backwards, one going into his ear. Finally, he calmed down, and picked himself up. He headed back the way he came. This wasn't the first time this happened; he knew it wouldn't be his last.

It was pre-dawn when he returned to the house. He slipped back in the back door, the house was quiet. He paused his breathing to fully take in the scene. Of the few sleeping forms he could see, none of them stirred, but a couple did softly snore. He sighed, and quietly sat at their table. He folded his hands, resting his head on them; silently moving his lips minutes passed. He paused, though not looking up, when someone quietly walked in. He didn't move, head resting on his folded hands, sitting in the chair waiting for the person to move on. She didn't.

Yang walked over and sat almost across from him. "Hey," she whispered, "are you awake?" he slowly shifted his head, a yes. His lips started to silently move again, his attention returned to Someone else. She could hear the tiny clicking noises he made as he prayed, and she wondered what he was doing. His back rose as he heaved a sigh. He looked up at her after he finished. "Hey, you okay? What was that about?" she asked. He looked on, "Don't worry about it."

* * *

Jaune woke up in a cold sweat. His sleep had been dreamless, except for a feeling of wickedness and strife. He had been in his own home, along with some of his sisters, Ren, and Nora; staying the night. He sat up, taking a look at himself. It felt like his hands were dirty, they looked clean. He walked into the bathroom, rubbing his hands; they started to feel sore. He washed his hands, threw water on his face, and turned to leave; but he caught sight of a red shirt –one of his sisters'– and its color released a torrent of emotions inside him. _That was Pyrrha's color._ He closed the bathroom door, slowly fell down in a crumpled heap, and wept bitter tears.

Later, it could've been minutes or hours, someone knocked on the bathroom door, jarring Jaune out of his misery. "Jaune, are you okay?" it was Nora. "There are people here looking for you," she said. He stood up, splashed some water on his face again, and started getting dressed. "I'll be right out, Nora, just give me a minute!" he pulled on a shirt and stepped out, and walked into the room with three strangers. Two wore suits, one of them spoke. "Are you Jaune Arc? Enrolled as a student at Beacon Academy? Leading member of team JNPR, Partner to Pyrrha Nikos?"

Jaune was hit below the belt from these questions. "Yes," he answered, sitting down. One stranger, not like the others, whispered into the ear of the speaker –who took no notice of him– and stood up. The speaker said, "General Ironwood wants to see you, as soon as possible." "Alright!" Nora butted in, "Let's go!" the other stranger scolded, "Not you, only Mr. Arc."

* * *

"…Ten! ...Fifteen! ...Twenty! ..." Nick called out reps as he and Yang did push-ups in the snow. "…Thirty-five! …Forty! …Forty-five! …" Already Yang's arms burned; and she was huffing and puffing in the cold, shaking from exertion. _I used to be able to do fifty easy!_ She looked at Nick as he called out –keeping an eye on her- "…Fifty! …" and kept going. _Ha! He's sweating like a pig!_ She remarked, but then noticed something that stunned her. _His arms aren't even trembling a little!_ "…Sixty! …" he called, watching her, "…Sixty-five! …Seventy! …Seventy-five!" he stopped, and Yang collapsed into the cooling snow. Before she could get a few refreshing breaths in, his voice boomed, "ON YOUR FEET!" he stood up first, she followed suit. Clenching her jaw against the cold, she started to shiver. "Remember and repeat:" he said, staring deep into her eyes, "My hands will be strengthened for war, but I'll strive for peace, Though I'll fall, I'll stand up, through fire and pain I'll endure, and come out refined and stronger than before." She did, after each pause.

He stayed there, looking into her eyes, and said, "You did good Yang, you followed through every step of the way; through running six miles, hauling a log on our shoulders a hundred yards, fifty chin-ups, and seventy-five push-ups, in the snow. Even though I told you, 'you can quit anytime, go home, have a nice warm drink in the warm, cozy house; no one will think you bad for it.' but you didn't, and kept with me." He looked passed her and asked, "What do you think Qrow? Is she ready to move on?" Yang whirled around, surprised that her uncle was there, watching. He wasn't the only one; a red cape fluttered next to him. With a puff, his gravelly voice answered, "Maybe after breakfast–" "dad's making French toast!" Ruby excitedly added. Nick grinned, "I like French toast, almost as good as S.O.S." Yang looked at him in confusion, as did Ruby. Nick shrugged, and added, "So, let's eat."

They all shuffled inside. Taiyang was already beating the batter with a whisk. Two loaves of bread –store bought, pre-sliced, still wrapped in the plastic bag– sat on the counter, awaiting their bath. Winter was off to one side, quietly talking with Weiss. "I find it hard to believe that he's one of those great warriors," Weiss said, making a face, "he's so timid, refusing to fight for the most–" she stopped before she became too flustered. Winter agreed. "It seems," the elder reasoned, "that he doesn't want to be known. He's hiding something; purposefully holding himself back –restraining himself– when we fought. I feel that he's more powerful than he leads on for us to believe." Nick was able to hear them, and internally commented, _yeah, and this power scares me…_

Later, Taiyang served the toast. While the rest dug in, Nick looked up with a silent bullet prayer for breakfast; Yang asked him, "so, why the intensive training so early?" he looked at her and said, "There's still some re-gen serum in your system; it ain't harmful, but we can make use of it. For the next eighty-three hours, the compound will increase muscle strength as you train; if you keep the training, you'll be back to your old self faster now." Taiyang asked Nick, "So, what kind of training are you planning on?" Nick glanced over at Taiyang and answered without missing a beat. "Cross-training, along with some practical physical training." And he cut into his toast, eating the syrup-covered food. "What do you mean 'cross-training'?" Taiyang said. Nick swallowed and said, _"Iron sharpens Iron, Steel sharpens Steel,_ a good way to train someone to fight –especially in hand-to-hand combat– is to spar, as much as you can." He glanced at Yang, who was staring at him. Nick returned to his food. "What?! are you a glutton for punishment or something?!" Ruby asked, wide-eyed. He glanced at her with a twinkle in his eye, but he said, "you know, this is delicious. I might even have seconds." He piled on more pieces, and then doused them with syrup; not as much as Ruby, but a fair amount.

* * *

Blake hadn't spoken since her talk with Yang. However, she listened intently, as she ate, to the conversation. When Nick gave his explanation, she was a little puzzled. _I never heard that expression before; Steel sharpens Steel?! I wonder where he got it from._ She looked at Nick with an air of pity. _I don't think he knows what he's getting himself into._ She saw Yang get up, going to grab something.

After breakfast, they all went back outside; Nick and Yang into the snow-dusted yard. "Well," he said, "how do you wanna play this?" she looked at him with a playful smirk. I'll lead." "Alright, I'll take it easy on you," he said, shaking his head. She scoffed, raising her own gloved fists into her ready stance. They were nearly ten feet apart; but she was caught off guard by his simple stance. At first glance, it even looked cocky.

He just stood there, looking at her; arms at his side. His body was slightly turned away from her. Although his was slightly bowed forward, his eyes locked on hers; hardened eyes that broke his seemingly cocky attitude. He looked at the spectators, and Yang –for the first time– noticed the scar on his head, halfway between his eye and ear; a white slash running down the side of the edge of his face. He looked back at her, and noticed the look in her eyes. _Now you notice the scar, Yang?_

Choosing that moment to strike, Yang charged at him, right fist reared in a power blow. She let it loose. Nick saw it coming, and quickly diverted her fist. It missed his head by an inch, sliding off his open and angled hand. She recovered fast, and threw another punch. He dodged this one, rolling to her left. She jumped back from a perceived jab; then threw a roundhouse kick at his ribs.

That was a mistake.

Muscle memory took over, and Nick stepped in close, and blocked her kick with his forearm; in the next instant, he looped his arm around her leg, swept her other leg out with his, reached out and shoved her chest. The next thing she knew, she was laying on the ground in a daze, eyes looking into the sky. "C'mon, get up Yang." Someone said. She shook the mist from her mind and got to her feet. Nick was standing a few feet off. She saw him.

 _Now it's on._

She set her gaze on him, giving a predatory smile. Her eyes flashed red. Taiyang felt remorse for Nick. _Well, now he's dug his own grave, now she's stronger; thankfully_ Ember Celica _'s put away… right?_ Yang approached Nick, slipping something on her left wrist.

Throwing punch after punch, yang pummeled Nick with stronger and stronger blows; he was blocking each with his arms. Suddenly, she shot her knee out; Nick caught it in the ribs. Yang took advantage of this opening, and let her fist fly. Her punch thudded on his jaw, so loud that even Ruby heard it, and so powerful it threw him back, staggering a few steps. He just stood there and chuckled, "nice move." He could taste the coppery tang in his mouth; a small trickle of blood ran out the corner of his mouth. He leaned over and spit red. Yang looked at him in mild concern. "Look, quit your gawking; a split lip ain't anything. Don't worry about it."

"sorry, that was just jaw-ring to see." She replied, stepping back. "AUGH!" Ruby groaned, "C'mon Yang!" Yang turned and glanced at her sister, then back. As soon as she turned back, Nick charged her. He was faster than she thought. She anticipated a punch, not what he dealt, and tried to block.

He jumped up, and twisting around in midair, kicked her with both his legs, square in the chest. The force of his kick plus his momentum crashed into her, sending her tumbling to the ground. He'd dropkicked her, and landed on his back. He flipped himself up on his hands and sprung to his feet, landing in a crouch. She picked herself up. Angry. "What the Hell?!" she said. She charged. She threw a few punches. He blocked a few. Finally, Yang threw a right hook; a haymaker. He grabbed her wrist and slipped out of the way. But, in the same moment, when she was extended, he quickly jabbed her in the armpit, hitting a special point. He let go, and she staggered a step a step or two; he backpedaled to keep his balance. She looked at him with ire, raising her fists again.

Suddenly, her right arm went numb, then slowly started to weaken. She watched it with shock, then horror. Her arm now hung limp at her side, and she looked up at Nick with Crimson eyes. " _What did you do?_ " she demanded. "paralyzed your arm, for now." He said matter-of-factly. She wa loss for words, trembling with fury, fists balled, gritting her teeth. Finally she yelled at him. "You… YOU MONSTER!" she was about to charge.

He looked up at her hair then, staring at it. His head tilted to the side and a look of childish wonder was splayed on his face. _Her hair's on fire; when she gets mad, really mad, her hair sets on fire…_

 _That's awesome._

Now she was nearly blind with fury, he was staring, _gawking_ , at her hair. She snapped, all the little things piling up and pushing her over the edge. The yellow bracelet on her left –and only functional at the moment– arm shifted and transformed onto a gauntlet. Her mind shut off, she wouldn't remember what happened. She launched herself forward and swung at his face. _Ember Celica_ was loaded.

Half of Nick's face exploded in a red spray, and he flew backwards, landing face-down in a crumpled heap. He wasn't moving. Yang came to and stared at his body, terror creeping into her. She was irresponsive to everything else. _I just killed him… in cold blood. What have I done? I… I'm the monster._ Taiyang was on his feet in an instant, running to Yang. Ruby's hand covered her mouth, trying to hold back a silent scream. Everyone else stood motionless, too shocked at what just happened to think.

* * *

After a moment, Nick stirred. "Alrighty then," he muttered under his breath, picking himself up. "N-Nick. You're okay?" Yang asked, still standing behind him. He sighed and said, "you know, you better start believing in ghost stories, miss Xiao Long…" he turned around and faced her, she gasped at the sight.

Nearly the entire left side of his face was blown off; bits of red flesh, and strips of skin, dangled off his head. His right still showed emotion, intact. His left eye was miraculously spared, along with his skull. His voice was slightly altered with only one cheek intact' a silver molar sparkled in the now exposed teeth. Blood covered his exposed skull and dripped onto the snow. _I caused this,_ she thought. The whole thing turned her stomach. He started to talk, and she could see some of the exposed –and some dangling– muscles contract as he voiced his words.

"… _You're in one."_

 **A/U: Hello guys! Here's a pre-Christmas upload. I powered through this chapter really fast!**

 **HE REVIEWS : **

**GamehunterMC** **: you said it.**

 **Silver-Tritium-Protractinium** **: *sly smile* I'll never tell.**

 **KnightSpark** **: ...And Yang won't be happy if she does!**

 **Also: merendinoemiliano, Are you okay? you haven't replied for a while, you got me worried lately. **


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Ground Zero

Yang stood there like a colossus; frozen in place by shock and awe, but never wanting to look away. The man before her was Impossibility itself, having survived a shotgun blast like he did. He motioned for the both of them to walk to the house. On the way, Nick spoke, words slightly slurred from the missing cheek, "You know, you've a fiery temper; sooner or later, it'll get the better of you." She clenched her teeth when he said that.

After a moment, as Nick was stemming his face with a black kerchief, Yang spoke up, her temper calmed. "Why didn't you raise your aura?!" she asked. Nick chortled. Turning to her, he explained, "Well, I gotta have a _soul_ to do that." She looked at him with confusion. _What the hell is he implying?_ She thought.

Nick was about to say more, but suddenly Taiyang charged him, slamming full-bore into him with a growl, taking him to the ground. Taiyang pinned Nick to the ground, forearm pinning his throat. "I don't know what you are," Taiyang muttered, "but if you pull off another stunt like this in front of my girls again, I swear–" He stopped as two pairs of hands tried to pull him back by his shoulder and waist; he turned his head and saw the owners of those hands.

It was his girls, pulling him off of Nick. Yang had her hands around his shoulder, Ruby had her arms around his waist; both were pulling with all their might, and he was resisting their efforts. "Dad, get off him!" Yang grunted through grit teeth. Reluctantly, he complied.

With a cough and a wheeze, Nick rolled over and sat up in the snow. _It feels like I've overstayed my welcome. Unfortunately, I've got to make a decision… a few really. The most prominent right now is: am I going to accept or decline the role as Miss Xiao Long's guardian?_

… _I don't know._ He grimaced at his indecision.

He glanced over to where the two Atlasians were. _… Uptight And Icey over there is probably gonna hound me unless I go with and see the general; she's probably either too scared of him or too stubborn in her duty to return empty-handed. At this point, I'm seriously getting pissed about this… If she keeps at this, I'll send her back to crawl to her general empty-handed anyway –in a box if needed!_

Ruby tentatively stepped up to Nick. "Um, A-are you okay Nick?" she asked, then shot another question, "O-on a scale of one-to-ten, how –uh –much pain are you in?" he looked at her, silver eyes of youthful innocence meeting, locking on his gentle but battle-hardened ones. "Zero." They all stared at him, stupefied by his blatant answer. "What?! You're not in any Pain?! How is that even possible?!" Ruby asked. Nick was about to answer, when Yang went to action, saying, "He's in Shock!" grabbing him by his heels and hoisting them off the ground. Nick kicked free, rolling backwards into a crouch. "No, I ain't in shock," he said, starting to unfasten his right glove, "It's just one of the side effects of my curse." He took off his glove, raising his bare hand so they all could see. "And I bear the mark of the curse to prove it."

Yang absent-mindedly rubbed the scar on her new arm, but she was too fixated on the Black Spot on Nick's hand to notice. Blake, watching from a distance, however, did.

* * *

 _Yesterday…_

Ruby Rose had been ecstatic when she showed her best friend the home she grew up in. Weiss –and, admittedly, Blake as well –viewed her excitement with amusement. Eventually, in a quiet corner of the house, a place where they could be private, Weiss sat Ruby down to have a talk. "Ruby," she started, "I feel there's something you should know." Ruby looked at her with her own kind of innocence; Weiss felt warmth and comfort in it. "My father –he took away my inheritance of his company, with the public appearance that I gave it to my brother, Whitley, trying to humiliate me for 'acting out in public' when I tried to defend Vale at a charity concert." Weiss took a breath. Ruby asked, "Uh, does that mean you're not a Schnee?"

"I might as well not be one," Weiss sighed. "Hey, it's not so bad; I mean, you've still got us, we're your friends, and we're like family!" Ruby encouraged.

Suddenly, an idea came to Ruby.

* * *

 _Present day… 3:32 P.M._

She had merely closed her eyes for a moment, sitting in a lounge chair; but then was hit with the urge. For the rest of that morning and into the afternoon, Nick's injury had bothered her. Now Yang felt the need to go back, to return to Beacon. The thing was, she didn't know why, she just felt drawn back by some insatiable desire.

Quickly getting out of the chair, she tried to slip out the backdoor; but as she reached it, someone behind her spoke up, "Going somewhere, Firecracker?" she turned around at the gravelly voice of her uncle. "Just going out for a walk, you know," she smooth-talked; Qrow wasn't convinced. "'Out for a walk,' huh? I thought you're exhausted after this morning." Doubt was laced in his words.

"Yeah, I can't ride Bumblebee yet, so… I thought…" she left her argument fall, sighing in defeat; she fully intended to take her bike, but didn't want to spill her plan. "I just need to clear my head." Qrow responded, "so, you're not gonna take anything with you, not even water? It sounds like you're gonna take a hike." She thought about that, and what she could bring along.

"Well, when you put it that way," she said, stepping away from the door, "I guess I could take a few things." _Ember Celica for one,_ she thought, heading for the stairs. Qrow sighed, figuring she'd been trying to sneak out to go for a very long visit… and might've not returned.

 _Well,_ he thought, _I won't stop her; but I'll try to convince Nick to stay with her…_ He took a swig from his flask.

She rushed to her room, breezing past the open bathroom door. She closed her door, trying not to slam it. Turning around, she surveyed the room, her eyes landing on the closet. _It might be a good idea to take a couple changes of clothes,_ she thought, opening up the closet. Rummaging through drawers and hangers, Yang picked out a couple outfits with spare tees, cargo pants, and several sets of undergarments.

Hearing a noise outside, Yang turned to look out the window. Her dad and Nick had gone out to have a "friendly chat" after Nick fixed up his own face. Now they returned, one covered in mud. Both were in a fairly good mood, especially Taiyang, who she recognized as the "clean" one –although he was a bit dirty himself. Nick, apparently, was nearly unrecognizable covered in mud. She sighed in exasperation, turning back to her clothes.

Then she spotted it, lying open on the floor. _The book of the Four Wolves… Well, I guess it'll be something to read on the ferry._ She walked over and snatched it up, setting it with her clothes. Going back into the closet, she dug out a small gym bag and packed those spare clothes

She didn't pay any mind to the noise of the bathroom shower turning on.

Yang zipped up her bag, a spare outfit, clothes, book, and all, and tossed it on the floor. Then a glint of reflected sunlight caught her eye, drawing her to a picture frame. It was her team picture. She picked it up and stared at it, observing the details of her friends' faces. Even Ruby's childish enthusiasm showed.

Somehow, Yang was on the fence about bringing the picture. On one hand, it was a nice reminder of the good times they shared; on the other, however, it also reminded her of the trauma and catastrophe that split them apart. She sighed a heavy sigh, and then opened up the picture frame.

* * *

When Taiyang and Nick entered, the first comment out of Qrow's mouth was, "I see it went well." Just then, Ruby walked in. "Hi dad," she said as she walked to the fridge; they all looked on without a word as she dug out a container of red strawberries. She bit into one, then two, then she finally noticed Nick, standing there covered in mud. She chortled, "What happened to you?" he looked down at himself, then back to her, saying, "uh, I fell down." Qrow looked on, unimpressed. Ruby simply nodded, seemingly understanding. "Oh, okay. I guess it happens to the best of us sometimes, right?"

Nick shrugged.

"Oh, by the way Nick," Taiyang said, "you can use the upstairs shower to clean off." Qrow took note of that, taking an extra-large swig. Nick held up his hands in protest, "Now, I don't wanna take advantage–" "no, I insist!" Taiyang urged, "Go up there and clean yourself off!" Nick was about to further protest, but decided, _ah, just drop it!_ He grabbed his pack and headed upstairs, unaware of who else was up there.

From the kitchen, Taiyang exclaimed, "QROW! What have I told you about drinking in the house?!"

* * *

With the Gym bag finally packed, Yang grabbed an outfit and opened the door. She walked back down the hall, but stopped when she noticed the bathroom door mostly closed, the sound of spraying water coming from within. She wondered who was in there for a moment; then something clicked in her mind. _Nick came in muddy,_ she thought, _of course he'd wash up after that!_

Then and there, a devilish idea came to mind: _I'll show him another kind of dirty_ _, and have a little fun at it too._ The plan took hold, and she gave a predatory grin. Opening the bathroom door as quietly as she could, Yang snuck into the bathroom. The first thing she noticed was the lack of steam, _it won't stay that way for long; it'll get really steamy in here._ She licked her lips in anticipation.

She stealthily stepped toward the closed curtain, the frosted plastic sheet revealing only a moving, flesh-toned form behind it. Glancing to the side at the pile of sopping wet clothes in the sink, Yang paused. _Oh yeah, this'll be good._ She licked her lips again and reached out for the curtain…

Fast as lightening, Nick's hand shot out, surprising Yang. Suddenly, a sharp point pricked the skin of her neck, and she froze at the sharp blade of Nick's ten-inch bowie knife at her throat. He peered around the curtain, and said, "Yang, you shouldn't have come in." she scoffed, smacking his blade away. The curtain slipped, revealing even more of his muscular body, and Yang purred at the sight.

Nick lowered his blade, but kept it at the ready as Yang said, "Oh c'mon, I was just playin'. Besides, I figured with the way you fight, you'd have really big _–you know…_ " She stepped up to him and added, "And I wouldn't mind a feel." She started to reach out.

Nick's face hardened and he said, "I'm not here for your _erotic entertainment_." He slapped her groping hand with the flat of his knife. She jerked it back with a, "hey!" she stared at him, at first coyly, but the look on his face stopped her in her track; she'd seen the same look many times in the mirror: the fear and panic of a trauma episode.

Nick was visibly shaking, water dripping off his scarred form. _I've gone too far,_ she thought, _I thought he'd be embarrassed at most; something horrible must've happened to him before…_ she softened, reaching out to take his spot-marked hand. "Yang, don't–" he said, pulling away. "I'm sorry, I went too far," she said, gently holding his hand.

She let him go, turning around to leave. Nick wanted to say he was fine, but closed his eyes to calm himself, _One… two… three… four… five… six… seven… eight… nine… ten._ He opened them, his panic attack sated. She was gone.

Yang returned to her room, and sat on her bed; criticizing herself for being such an insensitive playgirl. She had the same felling as Nick before: the trauma from _that night_ causing her to panic like he did. Her thoughts, still playing through her mind, portrayed her sympathy; _I know what you're going through, I'm really sorry I caused it to happen._

She changed her clothes, opened her window, and tossed the bag out. She wrote a message to Ruby on a sticky note and placed it on her bedroom door. Then she grabbed her sunglasses and climbed out the window. Unfortunately she slipped and fell, landing in a heap in the snow. Yang sat up and grappled for her bag, and then she drifted to the garage, entering as stealthily as she was able. She looked upon the massive sheet in front of her.

A pair of mismatched eyes watched her slip in the door from the kitchen window, and the owner didn't make a move to stop her; but Nick knew he'd be following her. Half dressed; he finally made a choice that would change his world forever: _I guess I'll be stickin' with her now._ He put on his flannel shirt over his spare half-damp grey tee and blue jeans; finishing off with his gloves and boots. And he ran a shaky hand through his hair, half-regretting his decision. _I better not get too attached to her…_

The sound of a motorcycle starting bade him return to the window. Yang exited the garage riding Bumblebee, her yellow motorbike. Ruby rushed up to nick at the sound too. "Where's she going?!" she asked. Nick didn't answer her, but thought, _not far, from what I gathered Yang's off to Beacon Academy._

* * *

Yang got off the ferry about an hour later. She did read more from the book, now about a third way through. She drove from the docks through the streets of Vale. Finally she saw it, through the haze and fog: Beacon, Ground Zero of the attack. It took a while, by sundown she finally reached the front lines.

She didn't realize it, but someone was already on her trail, closing fast.

It was disturbingly quiet on the west side of Beacon, only some distant fighting was heard. She shut off Bumblebee and parked it under a tree. Several pairs of evil eyes glared at her from the darkness as she set off into the school. The moon rose and night fell. She was reminded of the Wolves' pre-battle chant she had read about, " _…Into the valley once more, now, we go; into the grave into the ground down below."_ She sort of sang it to herself, the words echoing into the distance; it comforted her, the feeling of fear being stemmed by those ancient words.

The sound of talons and claws approaching greeted her. _I will tear through these monsters if they get in my way!_ she thought as she ran into the fray head on, anger rising inside her. Dodging the swipes and slashes of many Grimm, Yang ran on, varying kicks and punches into snarling faces.

She felt pulled toward the cafeteria, where she confronted Adam… and lost her arm. Finally, outrunning the hordes of Grimm, she reached the doors. Quickly entering, she closed them behind her, and turned around to what was left of the cafeteria.

Rubble and bits of charcoal littered the floor; the roof was missing, replaced by the skeletal, burned up rafters. The whole place looked like it could fall on top of her any second. Yang sank to her knees, overcome by a wave of emotion.

Breathing heavily, she got back up and started her search, looking through piles of rubble for anything that resembled even a part of her arm. Despair grew inside her as rubble and burnt wood were all she found. She was giving up hope, sinking to her knees, when she saw, beneath a bowl, a yellow-painted piece of metal.

She lunged for it, tenderly grabbing and holding it to her heart. _Ember Celica,_ she thought, sobbing, _the only piece left._ For several minutes, she stayed there holding the plate-like piece close, weeping in the moonlight. Then something that was at the back of her mind sprung up, _what happened to the Grimm?_

Her answer came when a beowolf lunged through a broken window, stuck halfway through. She bolted up in surprise, then with a heavy emotional backing, fiercely charged it and tore it's jaw off, breaking its neck. As it vaporized, she leapt over its carcass and through the window, landing with a roll.

She took off in a sprint, Grimm giving chase, and she held onto the bit of metal like her life depended on it. several turns brought her to the courtyard, and she lost the Grimm. She stopped, looking around; no Grimm in sight. _I don't have long,_ she thought, hands shaking, _They'll find me eventually._

Heavy footsteps on pavement approached from behind. Yang whirled around, expecting to see a stranger… or even a White Fang soldier. The person who approached was one she'd rather not have seen, but was glad he was there all the same.

It was Nick.

His face was solemn, but his eyes held a knowing gaze; the look of, "I've been through this too, I know what you're going through." He never said a word, but simply walked up to her, knelt down at a patch of half-thawed dirt next to them, and drew his Knife; using it as a spade to dig a hole. As soon as she saw him do this, she knelt down too and dug with her hands. When the hole was about a foot or so deep, Nick stood up as Yang reverently placed the piece of scrap into its grave. Neither of them said a word; both shared the same feelings in that moment, the funeral of Yang's arm. Nick empathized with her, the pain of losing his limb seeping back from his memory. _I was just about her age when I lost my leg…_

They filled the shallow grave, clod of dirt by clod of dirt. Tears started to fall down Yang's Cheeks. She threw the last handful of dirt on the grave and shakily started to stand; trying desperately to control herself. Yang was holding back her emotions, thinking, _I can't break in front of Nick; I have to show him that I'm strong and can handle myself._

She looked over to him, saw his gentle, rugged expression, and fell apart. Her knees gave out and she fell down; her face twisting in grief as it fell into her hands. She wept sorrowful tears, the penned up emotions spilling out, sweeping her away in their flood. Then, after a brief moment, she felt his strong, gentle hand on her shoulder, assuring her that he was there for her. She settled her weeping and looked back up at him, seeing a tear roll down his cheek; his eyes told her that she was okay.

He stepped back, giving her space. She felt her cheeks flush, and she looked away in embarrassment. Then, chiding herself for her perceived foolishness, she leapt to her feet and gave him a warm hug. "Thank you," she said, softly sobbing.

He put a hand on her back, underneath her hair, returning his gratitude.

Two tall, unseen strangers looked on, vigilant in their protective duty. Both knew that this could be the start to a beautiful thing.

 **A/N: My fellow readers!**

 **...I have returned, on the eve of this fanfiction's first anniversary. sorry for the long wait, but I felt I needed to take a break before I hit creative and emotional overload. And again, I'm still not sure that my sick and twisted mind can be restrained in a T rating... what do you think? I'll be getting a poll up soon for that, maybe even today. and as always, I _really_ love reading your reviews, you guys have been a great help for me.**

 **speaking of which, and to wit...**

 **THE REVIEWS:**

 **KnightSpark** **: I could think of a few things... some of them a bit dark...**

 **GamehunterMC** **: *chuckles* you and your gaming music... but It could work.**

 **Anyway, Like it if you did, Follow if you're interested in seeing more content, and Review in the box below...  
 **And I'll catch you on the flip side!****


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Vengeance

Blake was already on the road, when the sound of a motorcycle approached from behind. She quickly hid behind a tree, but risked a glimpse as Yang rode past on Bumblebee. Standing there, right off the road, Blake came to a decision, _I don't know where she's off too, but when I meet her, I'll have to tell her that I'm going back home._

She stepped back onto the road, and then checked her pockets. The tingle of lien awarded her search, _I've just enough to get back to Vale and get aboard ship._ She took a deep breath, and rambled on.

* * *

"Is this a cliché romance moment or what?" Yang said as she and Nick separated from their embrace. He took a step back and shrugged. She gazed into his eyes; they held the recognition of a distant memory, like she reminded him of someone he once knew. "c'mon," she said, walking past him, motioning for him to follow, "We need to talk." He sighed and followed.

She led him through several buildings, ending up in the dorms. Without even thinking, she took him up through the halls and into her old dorm. Opening the door, Yang took a moment to see the state of her and her teammates' beds. Ruby's had crashed into Weiss', but hers and Blake's still stood.

"I thought you wanted to talk," Nick finally said, "Not–" She turned to him, eyes crimson; he stopped his statement short. "I seriously doubt it's a coincidence that you, of all people, were there when I… wasn't strong; you supported me, comforted me… but also knew what I was going through," she said. Nick nodded, and she continued, "I don't know who you really are; you simply walked right into my life from little more than a story."

He walked in and shut the door, "You're right, on all those accounts," he said. She turned away in a huff. He looked on, running a hand through his hair. She sighed, "You're the most mysterious man I've ever seen." He leaned against the door, putting his hands in his pockets. She turned to him, "And now you tell me of this curse," she glanced down at his hands, "I just don't understand!"

"You're not the only one," Nick replied. Yang looked at him, confused, "What?!" he looked up, deep into her eyes –now back to a beautiful moon-sparkling lavender. _"I cannot Live, I cannot Die,"_ he said, _"I want to know who the hell I am."_ She blinked twice, shaking her head unable to think of anything to say. _"The mark is upon me,"_ he continued, _"and this mark of pain brings fear."_

An awkward moment passed; the silence between them heavy with restless anticipation.

"I, uh, well," Yang started, "I'm glad you held me up when I, uh, fell." He nodded, and she asked, "But you knew where I was going when I left, didn't you?" He wasn't given time to respond before she shot off another question, "How did you know I'd be going back?" he sighed, "because I did the same thing when I lost my leg: I couldn't just move on, I had to bury it first." "You did have that look in your eyes," she said, "like you had been in the same pain I was in." She looked up, seeing him grimace. _I guess I shouldn't push him any further,_ she thought, _but he's seen me cry, I should tell him that I can be strong._

"when Ruby's mom died, I realized I had to be strong for the both of us," she said," even after I found out about my mom…" She paused, her face darkening and eyes turning red for a moment. "I still needed to be strong, be brave because Ruby depended on it. I was just a little Kid, but since then very few people have seen me in tears…" He looked up at that.

"Now I can't really be a huntress," she said, shaking her head, "after what happened at Vital, everybody looks at me like I'm a monster…" she looked up at him, "I hope you're not one of them when I say that I nearly decapitated my opponent." His eyebrows moved up slightly, Yang saw that, thinking, _great, he sees me as–_

"You're no monster," Nick said, interrupting her thoughts, "just hot headed." He glanced to her golden locks, remembering what they did, "so to speak." She reeled from that, "How can you say that! I was put under house arrest in this very room for shooting Mercury's leg after he was down!" he rolled his eyes and said," something like that was going to happen in that gladiatorial festival eventually, it just so happens that it involved you; and if it wasn't you and this Mercury, than it would've been someone else." She blinked in awe. "Look, what I saw", she stated, pulling out her scroll, "and what everyone else saw were two different things. To me, after I defeated Merc, he sprung up and lunged at me; I defended myself." She pulled up a video and walked over, holding it out for him, saying, "but the video says otherwise." He pushed himself off the door and took the scroll, playing the scene of Yang, standing over a fallen, silver-haired boy; then using her gauntlets – _of course she'd have a pair_ – she shot him in the knee. Nick didn't really react, handing Yang's scroll back.

He stepped back as she put her scroll away. She looked deep into his eyes for some hint of awaiting wisdom; what she saw was almost a deep admiration for her. "Alistair," she said, trying to reach the warrior of renown, "I know you're someone who listened to people, but from what I see in your eyes every time you look at me, maybe it's time for someone to listen to you." He shut his eyes and turned away. Yang could tell that she reminded him of someone, someone once close to him.

"Who do I remind you of?" she asked. He sighed and said, "You remind me of my big sister." Her eyebrows shot up at that, "You have a sister, an older sister?" "We… drifted apart long before Shanot," he said, "Just one of the things I've had to bury." _Is he talking about his trauma?_ she wondered. He was about to say more, but she beat him to the punch.

"Don't bury it, it won't go away." She blinked, "Alistair –Nick, I want to know what happened before Shanot; before you're christened a wolf." He tensed, drew a deep breath, and was going to not tell her, but he was tired of sowing mysteries, and he did something she didn't expect.

"Aw, screw it to hell!"

He turned to her and explained, "The legend you know, the adventures of the Four Wolves, is only half the story, the half relevant to Remnant." She took a moment to process that, and rolled her eyes. "You're kidding! Let me guess, you were some lovesick farmer boy who ran away to seek his fortune, learned to fight, befriended a giant, a pirate, and another warrior, travelled across the land only to find his sweetheart fell for another."

"No."

She looked at him in mild surprise. "'No?' then what's been bugging you lately!?" His whole muscular frame tensed, as he ordered his thoughts and memories. "Long ago, there was a war I fought in. one day, I led my team into a… city. We got double-crossed. The only way I could see my team getting out of there if I stayed behind; the thing was my close friend –practically a sister to me– opted to stay as well."

He walked over to the window, sighing. Yang climbed onto her bed, shifting around trying to be patient. He turned from the window, "Her name was Cynthia, we all called her Synth." His eyes glazed over as he continued, "I can't even remember the name of that colony… but it earned the title I gave it.

"We were taken as prisoners of war. They interrogated us, shaved our heads, beat us to a pulp, and tortured us. Then, when they saw that we weren't gonna talk, they no longer saw us as prisoners. They…" He choked. Yang started, thinking, _what kind of war is this?_ He collected himself, and she saw the burning anger in his eyes. "They regarded us as mere playthings; it wasn't exclusive, we were used by both sexes." He looked deep into her eyes as he said, "After weeks of torment, I cried out loud, broken. I didn't ask for salvation, or escape; I asked for vengeance, and I received it sevenfold."

She sat there, completely enthralled, but his next statement caught her off guard," For what they did to me, to Synth, to everyone there, in judgement I called the city…" He grit his teeth, the anger and pain seeping from the past, "New Gomorrah."

* * *

He sat huddled in his cells corner, naked, scarred broken, stuck to the floor by his own dried blood. His tears dried up long ago, but he still cried. He didn't know what time it was, he didn't even know if Cynthia was alive. All he knew was that his captors would be back anytime, bringing their hideous cravings.

Finally, Nick gave up; he bowed his head and prayed, "Adonai, before I die alone, let me have vengeance." Suddenly, the scraping sound of the cell door jarred his ears. A guard stepped in, alone. Nick watched through his peripheral vision, as he stepped closer, licking his lips and muttering to himself. "Mm," the guard said as he caressed Nick's right arm and the tattoo therein. Nick didn't react; he was too weak and malnourished to do anything. The guard pinched Nick's bicep, saying, "unh, still strong." The guard reached down, and Nick still didn't move.

Then an Idea formed in his mind, and Nick was filled with enough strength to tear apart a lion. As soon as the guard touched him, Nick launched his knee between the guards legs full force. The guard staggered back, voice no more than a high-pitched gargle.

But Nick kept moving, snatching a knife from the guard's belt. As the guard soon got his wind back, Nick lunged at him, sticking the blade through his temple. He gave it a twist and a wrench, and then let the brain-dead corpse fall.

He worked fast, stripping the guard of his uniform and leaving him in the cell. The guard hadn't fully closed the door, and Nick slipped out and locked it behind him. He looked up and down the subterranean corridor; no one saw him. He moved on, urged to the next step of the plan: find Synth.

He stealth-fully walked from corridor to corridor, from one level to another. Acting "casual" when he passed another guard. Then someone unlocked a cell door near him as he passed. He stopped and turned around, seeing a stocky, uniformed woman with metal-grey hair exit. She was followed by two scantily clad guardswomen; Nick had been visited by the trio before, and he knew their way with "prisoners", he had the scars to prove it: _The infamous Fairy Hardcastle and her Nymphs._

He was going to move on, when he heard the sobbing from inside; _I know that voice._ The trio walked past him without even a glance, the only comment to him was, "She's all yours." Before the cast iron door fully closed, Nick stopped it with his appropriated boot, and slipped inside. She had stopped crying, now wearing a blank, empty stare at the wall; not even looking at him. He just stood there, nearly breaking then and there from the sight. "Do with me as you will," she said in a hollow voice, "just get it over with."

 _Cynthia…_

She was huddled up against the far wall, scarred, broken, hollow, naked. He walked up to her, took off his tunic, knelt down, wrapped it around her, and tenderly, gently embraced her, whispering two words in her ear, "plyushevyy medved" she immediately grabbed his shoulders and held him at arm's length, staring into his face in the florescent light.

 _It's him! My Plyushevyy Medved! He's come to rescue me!_ She held him for a moment; not believing her eyes, then ran her fingers across his whip-scarred chest and through his three-centimeter long hair –a little longer than hers. He gently reached up and held her hands, then helped her adjust the too-large tunic. He braced her arms and helped her up. He didn't say anything more, but she understood him: _Time to go._

They stealthily raced down corridors and up several levels. Suddenly they found themselves in a huge cavern, filled with several dwellings –most brick-and-mortar houses, some prefab shelters. The thing was, the "streets" were of the city were filled with people. Thankfully, Nick led them into the service alleys. As they were about to cross a street, a troop of armed guards passed their way. They ducked out of sight, back into the grungy alley.

Soft moans drew their attention down their side alley. Two women were on each other, on a couple of crates and a trash can. Synth ducked out of their line of sight, but Nick just stood there. One of the women looked up –Nick guessed she was in her early thirties— and said, "Wanna join?" her partner giggled at the idea. He simply returned to the street. After a moment, Synth followed. They made their way from the cavern, but instead of heading up, they went down. Synth took note when they passed a placard, "Radiation danger: entering reactor facility." _What is he thinking?!_ She thought, _we need to get out of here!_

They entered a room with several locker lining the wall, at the end were some Rad suits hanging on rack. Nick took one off and started putting it on. Synth didn't know, but he was drawn to something old, something long forgotten that lay beneath the colony; he didn't know anything more than that. The crazy thing was, no one else was there.

Synth took a suit of her own and put it on. _Maybe he's sabotaging the reactor,_ she thought, then she asked, "What are we doing?" he turned to her, emptiness in his eyes, and said, "Synth, you don't have to partake in this, you can escape." He told her about his compulsion to find something and activate it. "I'll go with you, Yankee," She said.

They entered the reactor, and crawled through several ducts. Finally they saw it: a half-buried cylinder, snub-nosed with a handle embedded at the top and a dust covered sign on the side. They walked up to it, Nick knew this was it. Synth brushed the dust off the sign. She grabbed his arm. "Do you know what this is?" she asked, "Nick, do you know what this will make us?" he grunted, "I am prepared to take the consequences." She looked on as he reached for the arming handle. Then she stopped him, "wait, if we do this, we do this together." She reached with him, pulled the handle up, rotated it a quarter turn, and then set it back down. Suddenly a display popped up above the sign on the cylinder, counting down from thirty minutes.

 _29:59:00..._

 _29:58:00..._

Nick and Synth looked at the countdown, glanced at each other, and ran back through the ducts. They didn't bother to shed their airtight Rad suits when they left the reactor.

The inhabitants thought they were chasing each other as they ran through the cavern; some of then laughed as they passed. They entered a lift and headed to the surface. They both looked for the vehicle bay, finally finding a hangar filled with dune buggies. Amazingly only one worked and had enough fuel to get them away, and they roared out of there like all get out.

 _Fifteen minutes later…_

Nick stopped and they got out. They were on a plateau overlooking the colony. "This desert is horrible," synth said through her intercom, "those… those –calling them animals would be an insult to Rats and vermin." Nick took a moment to watch the city, then turned away, saying, "Let them burn." Then the desert was engulfed in the light like a second sun. Nick and Synth drove away. After a moment, they were in the shadow of a mushroom cloud. The duo drove on, both victims of this inhuman war.

* * *

Yang didn't speak for a while, regarding the man in front of her in a new light. "I set the desert on fire, and turned it to glass that day," he said, turning back to the window, "ever since then, that decision has haunted me." Something moved in the tree outside, drawing Nick's attention. _That looks like a crow… wait, it's bigger, and its tail's different…_ He scowled as he realized who it was, _so that's his sister._

A noise down the hall made him sharply turn his head. _Footsteps… two of them… and a very familiar rustle…_ He glanced back out the window, she was gone. He walked over to the door and waited, listening. Yang watched him with almost confusion. _He's acting weird,_ she thought; _maybe his memory was too much for him._ He smiled and said to her in a whisper, "I think you have a Visitor." He quickly opened the door, and a red-caped girl flailed, and then fell forward. "Ugh!" she said when she hit the floor. Another sniggered and said, "you dunce."

Yang jumped off her bed in surprise, "R-Ruby?!"

"Hi Yang," Ruby said, picking herself off the floor, "We came to find you." Weiss stepped into view and waved.

 **A/N: So is anyone else sour to their stomach? My poll about the questionable rating of this fanfiction is up on my profile, so go vote now!**

 **not so much action in this chapter, I'm afraid.. hopefully next chap I'll get a little more in there. Also, if you hadn't noticed I've drawn some original cover art! It's not great, but I like it...**

 **As to the reviews:**

 **KnightSpark** **: PM initiated... Enlightenment achieved Y/N?**

 **GamehunterMC** **: well, here's more character development for ya! maybe things are opening up that should remain closed?**

 **thanks to all of ya for your support, your liking this work, and your time reading! It makes me glad that you like this work!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: I couldn't come up with a clever-and-witty-enough name for this chapter

Cinder lay on the cold stone floor of a thousand-candle-lit chamber; unconscious and barely clothed. Salem had bid her be placed there, and now, an hour later, she entered carrying both a small bowl of red syrup-like fluid and a basin of a mysterious oil-like substance by its handle. She walked over and set the small bowl next to Cinder's head, then over to a raised brazier already burning with coals. She ladled the substance onto the blaze, and immediately a queer scent bloomed out of the dark fire; a sort of Grimm incense, one that gave a stimulating and amplifying aroma. She made her way back to Cinder –who was aligned with the fire to her side– chanting in a language that was strange and alien. She set the basin down at Cinder's feet, and dipped her finger into the crimson syrup. She drew a strange rune on Cinder's belly and another on her forehead. Then Salem ladled Grimm-fluid from the basin and coated Cinder's mutilated, deformed, and useless arm.

Then Salem waved her hand over Cinder, and by her power the substance started to bubble. Cinder stirred, and then moaned. The bubbling turned into a jet-black blaze, and Cinder's on unmutilated eye shot open, a scream stuck somewhere in her throat. Her arm changed, morphing into a taloned mutation of its former self. It became an entity unto itself; it became Grimm.

Then Salem rose, saying, "It is done."

* * *

It had happened so fast, Ruby was still in a daze. A moment ago, she'd found Yang and Nick in their old dorm –talking of all things– and told them that she and Weiss had set out to find her. She had looked at her bed and thought, _oh no! My bed fell–_ then something crashed through the window and everything went black. When she came to, she found herself in her sister's arms, and she was running away from something monstrous. Ruby looked over and saw Nick keeping pace with Yang; and Weiss running interference with whatever it was behind them. Ruby moaned, her head throbbing. Yang stopped, looking down at her sister. "Ruby, are you alright!?" she said Nick stopped just ahead of them, looking back at Ruby. Suddenly his eyes darted up and beyond them, and he lunged for them saying, "Incoming!"

He tackled the both of them to the ground, and a chunk of rubble flew over them impacting only a few feet away. Yang realized that it would've hit her and Ruby if Nick hadn't saved her; and that made her angry. "Arrgh! That son of a –" she spouted, stopping herself for Ruby's sake. "What's going on?" Ruby asked. Nick was about to reply, but Weiss beat him to it, "Oh, Yang's about to go… _ape_." Yang growled in response, aggravated by Weiss' pun. Nick glanced at Weiss, then summed up, "Big ape chase us." A glyph appeared above them as a couple cinderblocks impacted with a crunch like chomped cereal.

Suddenly, Yang stormed off, running against the Grimm. Nick huffed and followed suit. "Ruby," Weiss said, helping her partner to her feet, "we've got a Berengel." Ruby deployed _Crescent Rose_ , ready for action as her head cleared. "I'm ready."

The Beringel roared at the approach of the duo. Yang went high and Nick went low. Swinging his tomahawk into a blur, he hacked and slashed at its legs; Yang threw several shot-loaded southpaw jabs into its face and chest. It soon fell to its knees, roaring in rage. Nick and yang switched, and she threw gut punches. He was about to slash its face, when a high-caliber shot raced from behind with a shriek. Its eye exploded, and it fell with a whump. Nick looked back at Ruby, who lowered the smoking _Crescent Rose_.

"Okay Potshot," he said when she walked over, "let's roll; there'll be more where it came from." As if in reply, the Breingel grumbled. Ruby drew _Crescent Rose_ and quickly silenced it, severing its head. Yang looked over at Weiss and saw her almost childlike smirk. "Well," Weiss said, looking between the two, "you two are quite the Fiery Duo." Nick glanced at her, and Yang rolled her eyes. Ruby shuddered where she stood, saying, "Eeww, Gross."

Nick heard them long before they turned the corner; a troop of Atlasian Knights, about six of them. Yang and Ruby changed into a tense ready stance; Weiss, on the other hand, was a little more relaxed. She knew what they did in the fall of Beacon, but she felt sure these were safe; she was also fully prepared to stop them with a glyph if necessary. _Besides, the Atlasian engineers would've fixed them by now, right?_

The troop stopped not five and a half meters from them. "Citizens!" one addressed, "Please evacuate immediately. There are Grimm Forces in the area." Weiss spoke up, "WE are students from this academy, we know how to handle Grimm." They looked them over, running facial recognition against their updated database; so far, miss Schnee's story checked out. One set it's optic sensors on Nick, and he set off a flag in it's system; special instructions followed the flag for this person. It updated it's findings to the others, and said, "Sir, would you please come with us."

Yang's temper flared, still steamed from fighting, "And why would he do that?!"

The Autonomous Intelligence in their system bade them answer, "Mistress Schnee has issued a mandate that this man is to be escorted to headquarters. If he resists, he will be taken into custody. If you interfere, you will be taken into custody." Yang's eyes turned scarlet; she was about to charge, but Nick grabbed her shoulder. She turned back at him, and then saw the look in his eyes. "It appears that I don't have much choice," he finally said to the knights, still holding Yang's gaze. He walked over to the troop, hands up.

"C'mon Ruby," Yang said, face downcast in frustration, "We're going." Ruby looked at her sister, then to Nick, and then to Weiss, trying to decide what to do. "No Yang." Yang looked back at her sister, eyes still crimson. "Ruby," she warned. "We should go with Nick," Ruby elaborated, ignoring her sister's warning, "he helped us Yang; we could at least back him up." Weiss stepped up, "Yeah, and I wanna know what _my_ sister want's with him." Yang turned to Nick, and found that through the girls' argument the troop had escorted him away. She shut her eyes and grit her teeth, pulled in two inside. "Fine," she gruffly said, "go ahead and join him." She turned and stormed off. "Yang!" Ruby called, to no avail. Weiss, surprisingly, rushed off after her.

"Hey," she called after Yang. As she caught up to her she said, "He gave you that arm." Yang stopped dead in her tracks and Weiss continued, "You could at least show some gratitude; even if you hate him–" Yang whirled around, " _I don't hate him!_ " she said a bit hastily. Weiss paused, catching Yang's fastball rebuttal, and a sly grin spread on her lips. "Oh, is that so?" she teased. Yang turned her head, gritting her teeth to stop another outburst. "It's not like that," Yang said with a huff. Weiss put her hands on her hips, leaning forward with a grin. "Oh, and what is it?" Yang sighed, "I honestly don't quite know." Weiss was silent for a moment. Yang's unusual tone –a soft and tender voice of affection…or admiration– had confirmed her suspicions. Yang, however, turned back and said, "But I do know he doesn't look at me that way."

Ruby was watching from a distance, not wanting to intrude. However, even from a distance she could see a change in Yang's behavior. _Whatever Weiss's saying,_ she thought, _It's hitting Yang hard._ Finally she decided to walk over. "Yang, c'mon," she pleaded, "I think we should help Nick out." Yang sighed, "Yah, I think you're right."

* * *

The knights ushered Nick into a room within an office building that served as the battlefield headquarters. "Please remain here until mistress Schnee arrives," one of them said. He looked on as they closed the door. _Ugh,_ he thought _, that door isn't even red, and I want it painted black_. He sat in a chair by the corner and put in his earbuds, starting his music.

It wasn't long before thoughts of Yang invaded his mind. He clenched his fist and tried to drown out these thoughts, but it only came back. _That girl,_ he thought, _that girl… you fiery girl; why did I open up to you Yang Xiao Long?_ He sighed, _How come I see Zeph in you?_ The thought of his sister bade him touch his metal tooth with his tongue; a reminder of their last meeting.

Nick got up, taking out his earbuds, and opened up a window; the blast of cold air went unnoticed. He looked out onto the landscape, seeing the darkened buildings covered in snow highlighted by the worklights of crews and regiments. He drew a breath and listened; even now there was still noise, and part of the noise was getting closer. A moment later a large black bird flew past Nick into the room; Nick didn't even flinch. "Had I known you'd get yourself in trouble so soon, I'd have brought some handcuff and stuck you with Yang," a gravelly voice said behind him. Nick could hear the smirk on his face. "What says I'm in trouble?" he replied without turning around, "me being wanted by the Atlasian General, or being stalked by your sister?"

Qrow's smirk disappeared at that, and Nick turned around to face him. "I presume she has the same trick you have, the one you got from _him._ " Qrow took out his flask and took a swig, "she'll say otherwise, but we both accepted Ozpin's gift. Now though, it won't make much difference: he's dead." Nick sighed, "He won't be for long. Ever since I've met Ozymandias, he's always come back." Qrow looked up in surprise. "You knew him before?" Nick closed his eyes, shifting his jaw side to side and thought, _where do you think he got his 'Rule of Four' from?_ Qrow took another drink as Nick elaborated, "Actually, I got to know him right after the time he gave those girls powers."

"The Four Maidens."

Nick nodded.

The door violently opened, and in stormed Winter like a cold front. She was about to speak, but then saw Qrow in the room, and changed her mind. Nick casually turned to her, "well Ice Queen, are we for here or to go?" She turned an icy glare at him for the use of that nickname the Schnee girls seemed to attract; he paid no mind to it, however. "For your information," she said in an authoritative manner, "our airship will be arriving shortly to bear us to Atlas." _Well,_ he thought, _I hope that answered some questions._ "And for your information Ice queen," Qrow stated, "I'll be coming along."

"Absolutely not!" she spat. Slowly, a smirk curled on Qrow's lip, a sneer spread on Winter's own lip as the duo faced off. Nick stepped in between them, "I hate to stop your lover's quarrel, but this is not the time or place; do I have to separate you two?" winter glared at Nick in a strange way, in his opinion, _almost like she's covering up a look of horror._

A faint noise outside drew Nick's attention, and he calmly walked over to the window. It was a motorcycle, by the sound of it, getting closer to the building. Finally it pulled up to an intersection; and even by the beaming moonlight Nick recognized the golden blonde rider and her red-caped sister sitting behind her. An ever-so-slight smile curled on the edge of his lips; that was all he'd allow for the moment.

"What is it?" Winter asked. Nick turned, "you better prepare for two more passengers."

* * *

 _Two hours later…_

Yang tried to get some sleep, but the events of the evening played on a loop in her head. She groaned and sat up, taking a look at the airship interior. This one, apparently, was a smaller, better-armed version of the cargo ship Ruby had ridden over with Nick. (There was more to that story, Yang could tell.) Right now Ruby was fast asleep, quietly sawing logs. She and Weiss had both collapsed on the seats, exhausted. Qrow and Winter, begrudgingly, sat across from each other near the cockpit. Nick calmly and quietly sat down in the rear, simply closing his eyes. It would be awhile before they landed.

Yang glanced back at him; he was calm, but not quite relaxed, his eyes still closed. He suddenly opened them, and gazed into hers. She quickly looked away; she started to feel herself blush, and she scolded herself for it. _Get ahold of yourself!_ She thought, closing her eyes, _you're acting like a cliché schoolgirl; if you don't stop you'll be at his feet, at his beck-and-call._

She looked back to him, and saw that he had moved for once. He was hunched over, eyes closed, and his head rested on clasped hands. His lips moved silently, speaking without sound. She marveled at this, _he was doing the same thing at the table…praying_. A thought came to mind, and she checked the time on her scroll; it was after midnight. Then she noticed a message that had been sent hours before.

It was from Blake.

Yang closed her eyes and sighed. She looked over at Nick, who looked like he was having a nervous breakdown, and then back to her scroll. Finally she made a fateful decision; _her message can wait…Alistair looks like he could use some company._ She closed her scroll and got up, made a not-so-subtle stretch, and walked back. Nick sighed deeply, practically feeling her approach.

"Hey," she said, sitting down a seat away from him. He slowly raised his head and looked at her, but didn't say a thing. She closed her eyes for a moment and paused. _I gotta give it to him straight,_ she thought. "Listen, I'm only here because Ruby's here," she said, adding in her head, _and because I'm in your debt._ Instinctively, she reached for a pocket in her jacket, and pulled out the photo of her team. She unfolded it and gazed at it for a moment. "She wanted me to come," she said, "my little sister the leader of our team…"

Nick softly chuckled, and Yang looked back up to him. He was just glancing back up to her eyes, a slight smile on his mouth, "I've still got mine." Yang was dubious of that, but looked on in confusion as he reached down and took off his boot. "You keep a picture in your boot?" she prodded. He snickered and dug into his boot, finally bringing out what appeared to be a folded photograph. He dropped the boot and unfolded the picture, "You've got your team," he said as he showed her, "I've got mine." She looked at him quizzically, reaching out to take the picture. _It looks old,_ she thought when she saw the sepia-tone, _Even though the paper looks new._ When she looked at it, the first thing she noticed were the team members, more than the four she was expecting…much more.

Fourteen people stood in two rows, the first row crouching, the last standing. One man, on the far left of the first row, first caught her eye. He was leaning out, flexing his well-built muscles; he wasn't wearing a shirt, and she could see a tattoo on his chest, it looked like a butterfly. However, it wasn't Nick, the eyes were all wrong, and the nose was…different. She looked over each face, from left to right, until she found him. Second from last, he stood there with bare crossed arms over sleeveless. A daunting look was in his younger face, as if he were staring down the camera…and was winning. His hair was a dark color… whether black or brown Yang couldn't tell; and he was posed so that his body was turned away to the left, and clear as day she could see a tattoo on his arm.

She looked up at Nick in surprise. "You have a tattoo?!" she burst in bewilderment. He shook his head, "I had it removed." For a moment, it could've been the lighting, but Yang saw for the first time the weathered look In Nick; the weary eyes and hollow cheeks from warfare and wilderness. He looked older, like he suddenly aged a decade or two.

He held out his hand for the picture; Yang hesitated for a moment, but then handed over. They touched, and Nick could feel a slight trembling in her hand. He didn't visibly react, but yang could feel a distance between them. It was greater than the one seat in between her and him. She hardened her heart as she remembered why he was with her. "Just so you know," she said, getting up, " _I don't need your help, I can take care of myself._ " She walked back to her seat, but before she got far Nick quietly called out, "you better get some sleep, it's a few more hours to Atlas." She turned back to him with a withering glare, but he already closed his eyes and leaned back into his seat for sleep.

Yang got back in her own seat –sitting sideways to keep an eye on Nick. As seconds passed into minutes, her vision slowly faded into black. Suddenly, she was jostled awake, the sound of the airship had changed, and there was a soft light of pre-dawn outside.

"Good Morning!" Ruby's bright and Cheery voice called from her seat, "We're here already!" Yang looked out her window and for her first time, she caught a glimpse of early morning Atlas.

* * *

 **A/N: you could substitute** _ **The Trip**_ **, or** _ **To Atlas**_ **… or** _ **The Trip to Atlas, Up There, Secrets, Nostalgia, etc.**_ **But, I guess I couldn't find a name that suited this chapter to my liking.**

 **Also, I found out that the "Gorilla Grimm" has a name that doesn't make immediate sense: "Berengel". My original name I used for it, "Silverback"… made more sense at least.**

 **And now... _you_ get the idea:**

 **GamehunterMC : Well, here you go... they'll be seein' the General next chapter.**

 **KnightSpark** **: Yeah, but not without a goodbye... of sorts.**

 **Oh, I'm excited!**

Yhug hhghhg


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Weary General

The first thing that hit him, as he exited the airship with the others, was the cold. The other passengers didn't seem to mind, and he drew several breaths of the Atlasian air. He shivered. "Thank goodness I brought my Pumpkin Pete's hoodie," he said. The two agents approached to lead him to his destination.

"Mr. Arc," one said, "you are to attend a meeting with the General; however, until then you are to be escorted to one of the spare dorms at Atlas Academy." _They're offering free room and board?_ Jaune thought, _that's nice of them._ They boarded a bullhead and flew to the academy, per Atlasian fashion.

Minutes later, Jaune was shown his dorm. As soon as he flopped onto the bed, sleep overtook him. Dreams of Pyrrha and Blake plagued him. Before he knew it, he was awakened early the next morning. His scroll had a message, and was buzzing in his pocket: "Mister Arc, the meeting will be held at 08:30 hrs. Do not be late." He checked the time in his scroll, "8:12" he said to himself, suddenly he realized what that meant.

"Oh no!"

* * *

They were escorted directly to the academy. On the way there Yang opened up her scroll and read that message from Blake. Then she reread it; and again a third time. She wanted to be angry, to be furious at her partner; but no matter how hard she tried, she just felt… alone.

 _Yang,_ it began, _I'm sorry I couldn't tell you this in person. I know I left you without saying goodbye last time, and that was selfish of me. But seeing you with your family made me miss mine; so now I'm leaving to go see them. I suppose this is goodbye, for now at least._

It took a moment for Yang to realize that someone had a hand on hers. "Yang," Ruby tentatively asked, "What's wrong?" she closed her scroll, "Nothing, don't worry about It." she turned away, trying to hide her tears.

Fortunately, only Ruby noticed.

They landed after a moment. And they were ushered into the school. Ruby noticed that through the trip, Weiss not only hadn't spoken, but seemed sullen, even anxious… and not in a good way. A cloud of dread seemed to hang over her.

Before they knew it, they were out of the cold and into a warm waiting room. The first person they saw there took them by surprise. "JAUNE?!" Ruby burst, nearly running him over, "What are you doing here? Are Ren and Nora here too?" He stood up and groaned, "Ruby, I'm not having a good morning."

The receptionist called Qrow, Nick, and Winter; and they entered an office door as the others sat down. "What happened?" Ruby asked. Jaune sighed and said, "Well, when I woke up this morning there was a message for me to be here at eight-thirty. My scroll said it was about eight-fifteen or so. I rushed to get dressed and skipped breakfast, but I didn't know my scroll was ahead a couple hours." Ruby giggled, but Jaune continued, "I didn't know where to go, so I asked a passing guy –he had red hair– if he knew the way to General Ironwood's office. I didn't think he understood me, because all he did was start clicking his tongue. Thankfully, his partner –I think her name was Kelp– told me how to get there. I still got lost a few times though." He ran a hand through his hair.

"I see you have found your way, yellow haired man," a deep, heavily accented voice suddenly boomed. They all turned to it, seeing a spiky red-haired man wearing a leather vest, torn shorts, white running shoes, and a smirk on his face. He chuckled and walked on. "But you do not know de way." They looked on in bewilderment as he stopped and spit on the floor.

"Awkward," Ruby said, to everyone's agreement

* * *

When they entered the office, one of the things Nick took notice of was the book on the Generals desk. Another was the General himself, whose white uniform was offset by his five o'clock shadow and weary eyes. The book gave Nick an eerie feeling. _Alistair's Adventures,_ Nick thought, _I don't like where this is going. There are a lot of things in that book, things I'd rather not do again. Places I've visited, places not meant for beings like us._

Ironwood rose from his seat. Qrow spoke up first. "Alright Ironwood, what's all this about?" chagrin showed on his face, but Ironwood said, "Please, have a seat. There are some things that we need to discuss." _There are also things that should stay secret, buried in myth and legend,_ Nick said as he sat. Qrow remained standing, leaning on the General's desk.

"Why did you drag The Ace of Spades here?" Qrow threateningly asked. Ironwood calmly answered, "I wanted him to provide assistance concerning Atlasian safety and security, a private matter." Private matter," Qrow grumbled as he took a seat. "With your permission, sir," Winter spoke up, "I'd like to remain and learn the reason of fetching this _Wildsman_." Nick merely glanced over at her with an 'is that so!?' look on his face, eyebrows raised. Ironwood said, "Granted," but his face showed that he didn't really care. He turned to Qrow, "you may as well be here, Qrow. I know you want to know what this security matter is." He rose and addressed the three, "part of it concerns our Fall Maiden candidate." Qrow said under his breath, "our late candidate." All Nick did was slowly blink; Winter furrowed her brows. "General, I don't understand, are you implying–" Qrow interrupted her, "Yup, the maidens are real too." "Too?!" she said.

Qrow and Ironwood filled them in on the recent events. One thought that prevailed in Nick's mind was, _What makes you think that Pyrrha Nikos was a future Maiden?_ He knew full well that the Maiden Powers transferred to the Person in their thoughts, and also couldn't be easily forced into another. "Readings taken from the top of Beacon tower," Ironwood said, lowering the lights and displaying a hologram above his desk, "revealed an unknown energy signature. At first, our scientists were baffled, saying, 'that this energy exists is astonishing' but a mathematician pinpointed the origin of the energy. From what she found, the energy came from and exists within another dimension." Nick really paid attention to that, and he put two and two together… getting a lot more than just five. Ironwood paced back behind his desk, putting his hand on the book. "From what we could gather, from both the energy readings, the Silver Maiden's rupture, and several witness accounts, I have concluded this certain fact: our fall maiden is not dead; she has been removed from our dimension, and has ended up in the Other… and only one of us in this room has passed from here to there and back again." He looked at Nick, and the others turned in kind. Nick simply sighed, "Gentlemen, I've been sitting here quietly for some time, and now I have something to say." He got up off the chair and drew a breath.

"Goodbye."

He turned and walked away, leaving the rest a bit stunned for a moment. The General called after before he reached the door. "So if you are the Traveler, then tell us what you've seen on your travels." Nick halted in his tracks, turned around and replied, "What I've seen? I've seen a lot: wood, water, stock and stone…

" _I've seen the treasure that waits for a man to find. I've seen the consequence when the sun and the moon combine. I've seen the peaks of mountains that reach out and touch the sky; the struggle to survive in the desert where dreams have died. I've seen the best and worst that we try to hide: the salt of the earth, and the evil of humankind. I've seen the wrecked and ravaged and scavengers rummage through debris, and those who've searched in hope finding meaning where none seems to be. And some that stormed the beaches, some that pledged allegiance, some that scorched the earth for motives that they don't agree with; since some get lost among the current of their grievance, for the tide of death and birth left them speechless. I've seen love bring some to their knees and some lift hearts when they smile for no reason. I've seen fairy tale endings to believe in, and now I see a man who'd see the same if he'd but seize it."_

They all stood in silence. "You want me to go back –there– and find this girl," Nick stated. Ironwood answered, "Yes, but not alone." He buzzed his receptionist, "Send in Mr. Arc." He turned to Winter, "Miss Schnee, you will accompany him." She saluted, "Yes sir."

A moment later, Jaune stepped through the doors. Nick merely glanced at him. "General Ironwood," Jaune nervously said, "you wanted to see me… sir?" "Mr. Arc," he replied, "there's an expedition underway, and I'd like you to be a part of it." " _Mister_ Ironwood," Nick said, playing one of his last cards, "Right now I'm a guardian, I have a charge to watch over." Qrow's eyebrows rose. After a moment's thought, the General concluded, "Well, I suppose they will join you." "Will?!" Qrow interjected, getting even more cross, "the only way she'll go with him is if she chooses to." "I don't think you're getting this through your head," Nick said, "I'm not going back to the Nightmare."

* * *

By the time Nick got out, he found the girls gone. He decided to take a walk. _I've been marshalled into this op,_ he thought as he passed through the halls. Finally, he walked to the parade grounds, and looked up into the sky. His mind drifted.

"So, how'd it go?"

He looked down at the red-and-black dressed girl suddenly beside him. "Oh, that bad, huh?" She said, perceiving from his eyes. Nick, at this point, didn't mind Ruby's company, "that meeting got worse than Hogan's goat." He watched the rose petals drift away, "That General seems to have turned me into, at this point, a regular stooge." She replied, "You mean like Ren?" He looked at her, thinking, _What? Does she need a dictionary or something?_ After a pause, he said, in a funny voice with a smirk, "Nyuk nyuk." She sputtered and giggled, saying, "Wha?! What is that?!" he looked at her and said, "Don't worry about it, Potshot." He turned up to the CCT tower, and she followed his gaze. They stayed there for a moment, not saying a word, and then the two walked on.

"N-Nick," Ruby nervously said as they walked to the assigned dorms, "Weiss and I've been talking… about you and Yang." He looked over at her inquisitively, "Me and Yang?" "Um, yeah," she said with a nervous chuckle, "well, she said that you had, a 'Special Gaze' for my sister, and that Yang seemed to–" "you better stop there," Nick said, raising a hand, "Gossip can be a poison." "Oh," she blanched. "well…" she sighed, wanting to get this off her chest, "All I know is when we talk to her, and we bring you up, she changes… she acts like she's hiding something… I've never seen her like that." _Uh oh,_ Nick thought, _It's gonna get a whole lot harder now, I better not be startin' this too._

 _I don't want her to get hurt._

 **A/N: Lately I seem to have fallen into the fallacy of prepping Nick for the series (an unlikely scenario, to be sure). thing is, he'd be different; much different...**

 ** **And, along with the fact that I feel I should state my RoosterTeeth membership (I'M NOT A FIRST MEMBER) I haven't been on there since I joined, back in 20-bacon. and I can't load the site, I 'm lucky I can post here.****

 ** **the review:****

 ** **KnightSpark**** ** **: Well,**** ** **at least she said goodbye... and why she had to go. Although a simple text message isn't quite as personable and heartfelt to Yang as a face-to-face talk would be.  
But if you're worried about bad feelings, It's just gonna get worse from here. I'll be doing things that you may not like, that people may not like.****


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Pleasant Greetings

1:31

She tossed and turned on her bedroll –nothing more than a hand-woven leaf mat– her seventh nightmare this night. The nightmares all involved Jaune, sometimes being murdered in front of her by Cinder, sometimes Jaune murdering herself, sometimes Jaune doing worse things to her. This time, she found herself walking the halls of Beacon, seemingly alone. She turned the corner and found herself facing hordes of Grimm. They didn't see her, and she slowly backed away. Walking on, the hairs on the top of her neck bristled as she listened to her footsteps. It felt like she was being watched. She drew her sword, in case Grimm –or worse– came at her. She took a left turn, and –like it is in dreams– found herself in the secret underground chamber.

In the center was the machine, its glass coffins glimmering. Pyrrha cautiously walked over, unsure of what was going on. One of the chambers was occupied, and she walked over to the Fall Maiden inside. The girl seemed to be sleeping, at peace. Pyrrha looked deep into her face. Suddenly the girl's eyes opened, and Pyrrha leaped back. Amber seemed to just lie there, studying Pyrrha without a word with calm, curious eyes. After a moment, Pyrrha stepped forward, laying her hand on the glass. Amber reached up and pressed her hand to Pyrrha's. She opened her mouth and said in a fell voice, "you are not a Maiden."

A glass arrow pierced Amber, and she died. Pyrrha backed away in horror, turned around, and fled. She made two corners, and then went through a door and up a flight of stairs. A pair of elevator doors opened ahead of her, and she ran through them, finding herself in Professor Ozpin's office. A vague figure stood before her, and she reacted, her huntress training kicking in. She plunged Miló into his chest as she tackled him. Pyrrha looked down at her kill, a blond-haired boy she knew all too well.

He looked back up to her with surprise and shock. Their eyes met, and he gurgled, "P–Pyrrha why?" a stream of crimson blood flowed from his mouth. She gazed at him in horror. "Jaune, no!" the light faded from her eyes, and she screamed. "Nooooooo!" her voice fading into sobs, as she bent over him. She finally stood up, still weeping. A glimmer out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. A mirror stood before her; but she saw two reflections: one was herself dressed in Cinder's outfit.

But the second had more impact. The reflection was dressed in mere rags, covered in filth, and blood varnished her hands. She felt her stomach squeeze, and she thought, _that is truly what I am._

Pyrrha was startled by the rustle of clothes beside her. "Pyrrha?" she looked, and saw Ruby standing there. "Pyrrha, what's happening? Why?" before her very eyes, Pyrrha saw a line of red spread across Ruby's neck; her silver eyes widened in fear, and she tried to scream, but all that came out was a sickening gurgle. Her throat poured blood, staining her neck and darkening her black clothes. Pyrrha stood stock still as Ruby fell to her knees, clutching her throat. Her mouth kept working, and Pyrrha could discern what she was trying to say: "Why won't you save me? I don't wanna die alone. I'm so scared…" Finally, her eyes went vacant, and Ruby collapsed to the ground, dead.

Pyrrha let out a wail so powerful and deep, that it seemed to echo for miles around. Her nightmare faded, and she hoped she would wake up soon. But her dream wasn't over. At first she thought it was just another nightmare, but this was one felt all too real; even more real than real. She stood alone in her old dorm, everything looked untouched, even the bed's looked unslept in. she walked around the room, checking out everything. The papers were on the desk, only her uniform in the closet, but nothing of her teammates, except for their team picture. Suddenly, she felt another presence behind her. At first, Pyrrha stood stock still as the hairs at the back of her neck bristled again. Then she slowly turned around, and there, sitting on her bed, was a being dressed in white. He held her gaze for a moment, and then he spoke, "Daughter of Eve, you have been given a second chance."

* * *

"Hey Weiss, I've noticed something lately," Ruby said when the pair finally had a chance to talk alone. "Was this a new experience for you?" Weiss half-heartedly joked. Ruby huffed, "Weiss, c'mon!" and sat down on her allotted bunk. "Well, what's this about?" Weiss said after a moment. "Well, uh," Ruby started, getting nervous and poking her forefingers together, "we're close friends, right?" Weiss was taken aback for a moment, "I… suppose, why?" "Um, well, you've been acting strange lately Weiss," Ruby said, alarming her partner. "You seem kinda…faded."

 _Faded,_ the word echoed through Weiss' head, slicing her heart as it passed. _…I know what you mean, dunce,_ she thought. "…yeah," she said, turning away at the uncomfortable subject, "my home isn't… very welcoming for me; unlike yours. You have the perfect family Ruby, your father cares for you dearly, and your sister loves you deeply." Ruby tilted her head, swinging her crossed legs and said, "Um yeah, aren't all families like that?" Weiss walked over to their window and looked out over Atlas. She closed her eyes at Ruby's naiveté. "No Ruby, not all families are as good as yours.

"My Father only married my mother for her –our name. My younger brother is as ambitious as his father. Mother doesn't even love anymore; she's too drowned in… her misery. The only person who has been anything like family to me was Winter… and she is not very warm."

"Oh Weiss," Ruby mumbled as she got what her partner was saying, Weiss wiped a tear from her eye, "I can only hope they don't know I'm here. If only my family was half as happy as yours; even if that meant having a sister like you." An idea sparked in Ruby's head. "Hey Weiss," Ruby said, "I can be your sister." "What are you talking about?" Weiss turned to her partner. "Uh," Ruby said, rubbing the back of her head, "us –er, we becoming sisters. I mean, like me and Yang are sisters, why not us two, too?"

Weiss' jaw dropped at Ruby's suggestion, and her eyes became a bit misty. But before she could reply, Yang suddenly barged into the room. "Hey," she started, but paused when she saw the two, "oh, sorry for interrupting, but do any of you have Nick's number?" A smirk curled on Weiss' lip as she said, "Why, do you want someone to… 'Snuggle'?" Yang's eyes flashed red. "Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed, "Don't anger Yang!" Yang turned away, closing her eyes, and growled, "I just wanna talk, and I can't find him anywhere." Ruby looked on with concern, "oh, he –uh– left." Yang slowly turned to her sister. "Ruby, do you know where he is?" she asked sternly. Ruby started to fidget under Yang's gaze, "I –uh– sorta know."

Ruby sighed and tried to explain, "After he walked me to our door," she gestured to said door, "he said he was staying in the mantle." Weiss reeled, "you dunce, you mean he's in _Mantle_?!" she looked out the window. "Mantle?" Yang said. Weiss pointed, and Yang followed her finger. "Why would he want to go to the slums?" Yang heard Weiss mutter. _Yeah,_ she thought, _why wouldn't he stay here?_

* * *

Yang finally found the garage where Atlasian crews had kept Bumblebee. There it was, off to the side like some piece of junk. She rushed over and checked it over thoroughly. _Good,_ she thought, _they didn't hurt her._ With a leather longcoat on and an orange scarf around her neck, Yang donned her sunglasses and revved her motorcycle. Strangely, her emotions were running full tilt; fear, anger _…love._ But even so, she screeched off into the night, into Mantle. _I'll find you Nick, Alistair, whoever you are,_ she thought, _and when I do, you'll have some explaining to do._ She grit her teeth and accelerated. _Why am I like this?_ She asked herself, _it's like there's a war inside of me, and I feel like I'm starting to break…_ she shook it off and pressed on.

The buildings flashed by; businesses, apartments, shady nightclubs, it was all a blur. Her hair whipped in the wind as Yang desperately searched for… him. It seemed as if she turned on instinct, seemingly lead to him; _hunting him,_ she thought, tears running down her cheeks at odd angles. Her burning crimson eyes were guided to an alley up ahead. The sound of a nearby nightclub throbbed in the air. She slowed down to just above a crawl, and entered cautiously. Bumblebee's headlights lit up the alley, the throb dulled to a mere background beat, and she looked from left to right, finally laying eyes on her prey.

"Hello Yang."

He was sitting on the ground, back against the alley wall. _He's just sitting there,_ she thought, _not even a turn of the head._ She turned off Bumblebee and dismounted. "You're so in trouble," she said. No reaction. She slowly walked over, "You could at least look at me." "Why?" he said, his voice hollow. She stopped, "Don't you think me a looker?" she said, striking a pose. He finally looked at her, directly into her eyes. She stared back, the fight inside her veins now a torrent. "Why are you here?" he asked. She leaned against the opposite wall, crossing her arms. "I wanted to find you; I don't have your number, and I wanted to talk." He looked on.

"Why are _you_ here?" she asked, "and how the hell are you not frozen?" She looked at his simple flannel shirt, the one he always wore. The cold still bit through her leather coat, and she couldn't even see him shivering. He looked away, down at his hands. A new thought pervaded her mind, and she acted on it as he said, "Dealing with some thoughts." She walked over, unbuttoning her coat, and, sitting down next to him, wrapped him in a half, her arm around his broad shoulders. He was as rigid and cold as a statue in her hand. She looked over at him, seeing a tear roll down his cheek. "Care to share them?" she asked caringly, subduing her ferocious feelings. He drew a ragged sigh.

Yang's scroll chirped.

She rolled her eyes and grunted in disgust. She answered, trying to muster patience, "What is it Ruby?" "Oh, hey Yang –er– did you find nick yet?" Yang could tell by the tone of her voice that her sister was under stress. "Yeah, why?" She said, "Ruby are you okay?" Ruby grunted, like she was wrestling with something. _Or someone,_ thought Yang. "I'm kinda having –arrgh– a problem. D-does he know where the bathroom is? Could you ask–" "Ruby, that's what you called about?" Yang stated. " None of the doors here are labeled 'restroom!' I'm about to burst!" Yang sighed, looked to Nick and said, "Would you talk with her?" He gave her a blank stare, and took the call, "Hello Potshot."

"Nick!" she said before a groan, "Um, do you know what they call a bathroom here?" he glanced over at Yang with an 'Oh really?' look, and then said, "Look for 'women's latrine.'" He handed the scroll back to Yang. They could hear huffing and puffing, and the pounding of running feet. "Ruby?" she asked, hearing the creak of a door. Another door slammed, and a lock clicked. Yang hung up then, putting her fingers of her free hand on her forehead, shaking her head in frustration and embarrassment. _I've had enough of this._ She stood up, leaving her coat; too hot with anger to care. She started to rub her arm, "tell me something," She turned and looked deep into his eyes, searching for any lie in them. Instead, deep within his eyes she saw something inside of him: sadness, anger, and…

Fear.

"How'd you, the four Wolves, get here?" she asked. Nick replied, "We fell down a hole." Yang finally noticed what Nick was tense about, _me, why do I scare him? Doesn't he know that I love him–_ she suddenly checked herself, _Oh hell, what am I thinking… He'll probably just leave even if we got involved. But then again, he's hot… and nice…_ she started to play with a lock of golden hair. Nick noticed. Yang cast her lavender eyes on him, striking a pose, saying, "You know, I could use a drink."

She started down the alley to the entrance. "The nightclub's nearby," she said, looking over her shoulder, "Maybe you could use one too." "Yang," he said, "I can't. I'm your guardian… that means I shouldn't get… involved." She stopped in her tracks. "You know, I _never_ accepted you as my guardian." She turned to him, eyes crimson, "Don't bring up my mom's … _plan_ for my life. I don't care." "  
I only 'signed on' when you ran off, and I searched for you in Beacon… and I helped with the funeral, because I knew exactly what you were going through, what you were doing then; I did the same."

Yang walked up to him, "you care for me, taken care of me… and I mean it when I say I'm in your debt." She suddenly grabbed hold of his tee collar and his black handkerchief… and a chain necklace underneath. "And now something has happened to me, Alice," she said, hoisting him up to her level and pressing him against the wall. "This is wrong," Nick warned, trying to hold her back, starting to tremble, "this is wrong." "I know," she said, their faces getting closer, "I know."

They kissed. Yang noticed that he tasted like pine-and-orange-hinted mint. To Nick, Yang had the taste of honey… _I'm really liking this girl._

 **A/N: You know, Ruby's right, you shouldn't get her sister Yangry. I couldn't fit a Yangry pun in, so...**

 **...also, Pyrrha bashing. Happy National Donut *burp* Day, June 1st, 2018! say goodbye to your diets!**

 **For the people who care...**

 **Luckyshot8** **; way back in chapter two: well, by the time you read this (see above date) it might be winter, somewhere in the world... so to reply to your comment: that guy... yeah, I don't watch Pokémon, I only singled out his red baseball cap because that's the only coloured cap I don't have! even back then (over a year, gosh!)**

 **And, any artists are welcome to draw, paint, whatever that nice little ending scene... however, at this moment I'm a bit broke so... (my art isn't that great, lust look at the cover art.)**

 **see ya all next time!**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Slow Burn

Time seemed to stand still, even the nightclub's music faded from their perception. For all they cared, all their world was at the moment was just the two of them. They held their embrace, reluctantly ending the kiss. Yang smiled, "Well, how do you feel _now?_ " Nick was beside himself, _I Can't_ _think of anything to describe…_ then, from the back of his memory, a phrase flitted onto his lips, "…. _Out of the strong comes something sweet._ " For some reason, that caught Yang's notice. She stepped back and looked at him for a moment in a different light. "Nick," she said, voice wavering ever-so-little, "Tell me, now do you see me like I see you?"

He looked into her eyes, green and purple into lavender, and tried to tell her, "Well, it's kinda hard too… um…" he cleared his throat as he formed his answer, "yes, and more." She bored her eyes into his, "How much more?" a kindly-and-clever smirk formed on his lips. " _Well_ , _I'm not paralyzed,_ " he said, putting a hand on her arm, " _but I seem to be struck by you."_ Yang's lower lip barely trembled. She grabbed him and hugged him like a stuffed animal. _Why do I act like this when I'm around you?_ She thought, _why am I secure, safe, and I don't even know you. I almost feel like we've met before…_ she looked back at him, seeing another tear stream down. She reached out and cupped his face with her new hand, brushing away the rear with a caress of her thumb. He closed his eyes at her touch, leaning into her hand. _If only I could feel!_ He thought, I _would give anything to experience her touch; even for a mere moment!_

* * *

It had been hours since Ruby had called Yang. She knew her sister was with Nick; but even so, she was too worried to sleep. She tossed and turned in her bunk. _What am I so worried about?_ She asked herself, _It's Yang, she can handle herself; and Nick's with her anyway… they could take on an army… oh heck, those two_ are _an army!_ "Hey Weiss, are you awake?" she whispered. There was a gap of silence, and then a sigh was breathed from Weiss' bunk. "What is it? Do you need to use the bathroom again?" Weiss teased. Thankfully for Ruby, Weiss couldn't quite see her blush in the dark. "N-no, it's just that… I'm kinda worried about Yang. The two of them haven't returned… and it's really late. I hope Nick can keep her safe." Weiss snickered, "I'm sure Nick will 'take care' of her."

"Huh? Whadaya mean?" Ruby naively asked. "Oh you dunce, Nick and Yang like each other." Weiss said, and received silence. " _Really_ like each other." She emphasized. Finally, Ruby caught on, "Wait! Are you saying that Yang and Nick are… _In love?!_ " Ruby shot out of bed and was nearly rebounding off of Weiss' bunk, holding back a squeal. Weiss was utterly shocked at her reaction. "Ruby! What are you doing?!" "Nick'll be my big brother?! Oooh!" she said, trying to contain herself.

"Ruby," Weiss stated, "that won't happen for a while: first they will have to confess their feelings for each other, then they will date… you get the idea." "Um, it's Yang…" "Good point." Ruby chortled, "Yeah, her version of a date would probably be trashing a club." "Or… other things," Weiss coyly said; a smile in the dark. "Huh?" Ruby said, "what are you–" "Never mind."

Weiss, sitting up at this point, swung her legs off the edge of the bunk and patted the space next to her for Ruby to sit. The bunk creaked as she did. "It's amazing that we talked with a living legend, "Weiss said, "I mean, you two walked together. It does make one wonder what other stories are real." Ruby fidgeted, "Uh, I might know of one." Weiss looked at her, "the silver-eyed warriors?" Ruby gaped, "H-how did you know!?" Weiss smiled, "Oh, I recently read a book on them, and they fitted your description perfectly." Ruby chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. Weiss wrapped an arm around her unofficial sister in a hug.

"You know," Ruby said, "If things keep going like this, we might find out that the Four Maidens are real." Weiss laughed, "Don't be a dunce."

* * *

The peace and quiet of late-night mantle was briefly interrupted by the roar of a motorbike engine. Yang rode through the streets looking for a place to stay the night; Nick sitting behind, hands around her waist, still wearing her leather coat. She pulled into the lot of a two-story motel. Nick looked around as she dismounted. Yang turned to him, and snickered as he dismounted. "Better call a tailor, my coat just doesn't seem to _suit_ you." A smirk curled on the edge of his lip. She walked toward him as he started to take the coat off. He draped it on his arm, and she slipped an arm around his waist. "But," she said, "I prefer what's underneath." With her other hand she cupped his face. She slid around him, breathing a sigh of contented anticipation. She plucked up her coat and headed toward the office. He leaned over her bike, when she stopped halfway. "Hey, how much cash can you spare?" she asked. Nick dug into his pocket and pulled out a ten-lien chip. He tossed it to her, she caught it one-handed. "Thanks Alice." He couldn't help but grin from his new nickname.

As she turned and headed for the office, Nick was reminded of a memory from his childhood: One crisp evening, his sister, brother, and himself playing some sort of game in the field. As they ran and rustled, a voice called from their house.

"Zeph, J.P., Eli! Time for dinner!"

"Coming Me-ma!"

Not even their best made-up game could keep them from dinner; especially when Me-ma made her fried chicken.

A hand on his broke him out of his reminiscence. Yang stood before him, holding his hand in both of hers. "C'mon dreamer," she said with a smirk. She turned and led him to their room for the night. Unlocking the door, Yang said, "We're gonna have a really good time." She pushed him in and locked the door behind her. Even before she turned around his right hand was already around her waist. He breathed in deep the scent of her hair. She closed her eyes, soaking in the sensation of his very presence.

She turned and draped her arms around his neck. He leaned down and gently kissed her nose. She sucked in a breath through her teeth, running her hands down his neck and underneath his flannel shirt. "Easy Yang," he said as she slipped off said shirt, "Let's not go too fast." Yang looked up at him, her eyes scarlet, but not with anger. "I–" she started, but he put his lips on hers before she could get the rest out.

The moment seemed to last an eternity, the two lost in each other. However, they were interrupted by a red slash near them; a significant portal. They both turned to it in surprise, Yang recognizing the person coming through. Nick looked on in suspicion; the masked long haired, armored and armed person glancing between the two of them seemingly in shock. "So this is how I find you," she said to Yang in disgust, "in… _romantic embrace_ with this coward?!" Yang sneered, gritting her teeth in rage. "He is not a coward," she said, barely able to contain herself, "He's the most caring, noble, honorable, loyal… and brave man I've seen. He stuck with me through strengths, weaknesses, and faults… that's a better record than you, _Mom._ " Yang and Nick, having separated their embrace, now stood on guard against "Mom."

Raven sighed in disappointment and frustration. Finally, she took off the mask. Her crimson eyes glimmered at them. "How can you love a man who willingly gave himself up to machines?" "I gave myself up," Nick spoke up, "Because I recognized that if I didn't, it would put more people, including Yang, at risk. I will gladly choose surrender for her sake, _even to the point of death._ " Yang turned to him, and saw the fire in his eyes. And when their eyes met, her very soul was knit to his. Admiration filled her, and she thought, _whatever the cost, I want to stay by his side, and him by mine; I think he is worth it._

Raven saw the look on her daughter's face, and she said, "So you have chosen him." Yang turned on her mother, "What's it to you?! _You_ were never there! _You removed_ yourself from my life, and _removed_ me –threw me away with dad– out of _your_ life! You don't get to–" Nick stopped her with a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder, and she looked back to him. "I think," she said, her tone calm but a bit fierce, "you gave up the right to approve what I do when you gave us up." Raven turned away, closing her eyes from the grief and regret of her actions. Trying to hold back tears, she rebutted, "I haven't removed you from my life; I just wanted the best life for you."

Yang and nick paused for a moment, looking at each other, silently communicating. Yang sighed, "You can still come with us, and we can be a family." She turned back to Raven, holding out a hand. "Please." Raven looked back at Yang, "you chose him," she drew her sword and slashed a portal into the air, "you both can come with me, or stay here." "Why can't you stay with us; why do you want me to pick between you and dad?" Yang demanded. Raven sighed, "we have… different views on 'family.'" Raven looked to Nick. "Take care of her, Nicholas; I'll find you if you don't." and with that, she donned her mask and walked through her portal. Yang stood there, speechless as the portal closed.

It was a moment before either of them spoke a word; Yang to angry and too tired to think, Nick simply unable to think of anything right and suitable for this moment. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. "What in hell was that?" Yang rhetorically asked, still a bit irked. "I think," Nick stated, "It was a visit from your mom." She turned to him, eyes lavender, but still frustrated and tired, "that's not funny." He turned to her, mild surprise on his face. She shook her head and sighed, "I'm too tired for this." He looked over to the clock. _03:17, small wonder._

Yang leaned into him, and he embraced her. "Hold me tight, Nick," she groggily said. He looked down into her serene features. "Ooo, you're so _warm_." Yang sleepily said as exhaustion overtook her. She pressed against him, hard enough move him backwards. She made a final effort to stay awake; she looked up to his eyes, and shoved him into a chair right behind them. She still clung to him, curling up on his lap.

Without inhibition, Yang fell asleep; and Nick, despite his trepidation of his nightmares, followed not far behind. As consciousness dulled, he breathed a deep prayer, snuggling Yang closer.

Outside, two invisible strangers stood guard. One turned in to look at them, marveling at the couple. "Even now he prays." The one said, "He prays for her, her family, their friends..." the one chuckled as Nick fell asleep in prayer. The other replied, "And we help keep them." The one turned back, "Yes, our fellow servant and his beloved."

 **A/N: I told you it'd get weird. honestly, I've been russhin to get this out, I hope you like it. Comments welcome, and appreciated!**

 **speaking of which...**

 **Draconic king** **: Really? well, I guess now I've cast a shadow in said future.**

 ** **the guest last chapter: (SPOILER WARNING) Uh, neither... man, this ain't a Warhammer crossover! 'Imperium of man'? try "united terran federation".****

 ** **well, until I get back from my trip -which I forgot to mention above and I'm too lazy to edit, and during which I might not post or anything- down to Penn, Abyssinia!****


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Mysteries and Mayhem

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a strange, almost topsy-turvy room; and Nick wasn't there. She looked around for a moment, and then realized where she was: back in the treehouse, laying on the mattress on her side. Stuffed bear clutched to her chest, she sat up, and became aware of the presence of another. She held the bear close as she looked upon the other with her.

Sitting at the table, shimmering blue iridescence, was the Winter Maiden; the winter spectre. " _You!_ " Yang said, leaping to her feet. The Maiden sat staring out the window; no reaction. Yang walked up to her. " _Who did I meet hare as a kid? Who built this treehouse? What is this place, where are we? I want answers!_ " The Maiden looked up to her with cold, empty eyes and asked, " _Why do you consult the dead, Yang Xiao Long? I can't answer your questions. The one who can answer you is alive and outside right now._ " And she disappeared right before her eyes.

* * *

Something wasn't right, Nick could feel it. His eyes shot open. Yang slept peacefully in his lap. He looked into her serene face. _Wow,_ He thought, _the golden-haired beut..._ He slipped his arms under her, and picked her up as he got out of the chair. She stirred, and snuggled closer to him. He carried her over and gently laid her on the bed. He brushed a lock of her hair from her face and took in the moment. _Alright,_ he thought as he turned from her with a sigh, _what in hellfire is goin' on?_

He brushed aside a part of the curtain, looking into the lot. There, leering over Bumblebee, were two figures. Nick grunted, _great, two goobers._ He opened the window and jumped through, landing silently in a crouch. Even at a distance, he could hear their conversation, and he stayed in the shadows. "Alright," one said, his greasy voice accompanied by a greasy sneer, "We almost got the tank drained. Slash the tires." Nick was about to act, when the other man there objected, "uh, do we _need_ to slash the tires? We got the tires, can't we just go?" The greasy guy turned to him. "Brick, do my ears deceive me? We wanna not have them follow us, stupid." _Sleazeball,_ Nick thought, and he silently approached from behind.

Brick headed for the front tire, reaching into a pocket… then another. His eyes widened, not because he forgot his switchblade, but because he saw Nick emerge from the shadows like a ghost. "Hey fellas," Nick said, standing like a colossus, "that's not very nice." The sleazeball jumped around, and only saw: _One mere man, I can take him easy._ "Alright," he said with a sinister chuckle, "gimme your wallet and run, or I hurt you." A smirk curled on his unshaven face. "No," was all Nick said.

The smile quickly faded from his face. "Brick, cut him!" Brick, apparently seen as the muscle of the two, whipped out a stiletto switchblade from his leather jacket's pocket. Nick turned to Brick as he charged. Brick tried to stab, but Nick grabbed his wrist with his left hand, slammed his other palm into Brick's face, and swung his right foot into the back of the head as Brick passed. Brick fell sprawled out on the pavement. Nick turned to the sleazeball, who simply grumbled, "Do you know who I am?" Nick replied, "Not really." The sleazeball, who was dressed like Brick in jeans and leather jacket, flipped out a butterfly knife, "My name is Axel."

"Well," Nick said, "That's a fitting name." Axel turned and jabbed his knife into the front tire. Nick's face hardened, "My friend is not gonna like that." "Yeah?" Axel said, flipping the butterfly knife around, "What are _you_ gonna do 'bout it?" Nick gave him a stony look, and stepped back into the shadows. "What," Axel said, "you think you're some kinda Try Hard hero?" Nick's voice echoed from all around, "I'm no hero, and neither are you, Axel Grease." Axel stiffened, unnerved and unable to tell where Nick's voice was coming from, turning around with his knife held out. _How does he know my Name?_ He thought. Suddenly, Nick appeared at Axel's left. He whipped around and jabbed his knife. Nick caught his wrist and held it. Axel squirmed in Nick's steel grip. "You will not get the dust you tried to steal," Nick said, and he looked at the butterfly knife, "and I'm confiscating this." He plucked the knife from his limp hand, putting it in his shirt pocket. Axel tried to punch Nick in the ribs, but Nick twisted Axel's wrist; and with his other hand, slammed Axel's throat shut.

Axel fell to his knees, choking and coughing, clutching his throat with his free hand. Nick bent over, taking out the confiscated knife, and said, "I'll let you go with your life. Take your… friend, and scram." Brick, having been recovering consciousness the whole time, staggered to his feet. "Give me my knife you a–" Axel rasped, but Nick silenced him with a flick of the blade on his cheek; a trickle of blood ran down. "Get lost," Nick said, letting go of Axel.

He moved between Bumblebee and the Bumblers, as Axel scrambled back.

Axel got to his feet, and charged. Nick dropped, raising his right leg in an uppercut kick to Axel's gut. Axel crumpled into a heap, and Brick looked on in astonishment. Nick stood up and elaborately flipped the butterfly knife closed; He looked over at Brick. Brick bolted. Axel looked on, and back at Nick. "I'll be back," Axel said as he stumbled away, "And I'll be bringin' muh friends!" Axel turned tail and ran. Nick watched him go for a moment. When he was out of sight, Nick turned around and assessed Yang's bike.

The front tire was flat. _But easily fixable,_ Nick thought, _now how did they drain the tank?_ He saw the fuel can, and leading out, a line ran into the fuel tank. _Well, at least they didn't cut the fuel line, but I should check…_ he got on his back and crawled beneath Bumblebee.

He poured over the engine, using expertise he gained long ago. _Well,_ he thought as he got back out, _pour the dust back in, and patch the tire; shouldn't take long._ He hefted the fuel can and started pouring.

* * *

Yang awoke in a daze; there was a light metallic clinking piercing the air. She looked around, "Huh?" _why am I in the bed? I thought we were on… did we…?_ She checked herself. She was laying on top of the bed, a little disheveled, but still wearing her clothes. She breathed a gravelly sigh as a wave of disappointment washed over her. The clinking stopped, but she didn't notice. _Ugh!_ She thought, _he probably set me here just to pee or something…_

"G'morning," Nick's voice called from the chair. She raised her head and looked over at him. "Hey you," she said, attempting to get up, "What's the big idea, dropping me on the bed without coming with?!" "Funny things happen in bed," Nick replied, starting to flip around something; it made a light clinking noise. "Besides, I had to take care of something." She looked down at what he was flipping and spinning. It was a purple-and-green handled knife… _with two handles? Seriously?_ "Since when did you have a butterfly knife?!" Nick simply replied, "Not long. I confiscated it quite recently."

Nick flipped it closed and slipped it into a pocket. Before Yang could say anything, he confessed, "Yang, there's something on my mind, something I should tell you; and I'm not proud of it. General Ironwood wanted me for an expedition; and I brought you and my perceived relationship with you, up. I said, effectively, that I wasn't going anywhere without you. I meant differently, but the general thought otherwise, and reluctantly consented to have you along." He lowered his eyes in shame. "I should've just kept my mouth shut," Yang caught him saying under his breath.

"Hey," she said as she leapt out of bed, "Who cares if you did? Besides, a trip sounds fun." He looked into her lavender eyes and said, "Yang, I don't think Ruby's goin'." She looked on as that statement impacted her. "Um," she said, trying to piece together her thoughts, "what's on this trip? Where's it to?" He sighed, "To a place that cannot be found; but I know where it is. We're going to find a lost little Maiden there." He got up, and walked around the bed, away from her. She slowly approached as he said, "I know you want to stay with your sister, Yang; and I will always support you."

She wrapped her arms around him and said, "Hey, I'm sure she'll be fine: Weiss is with her anyway, what could happen?" Nick could detect a hint of trepidation in her voice, and he winced. "Yang, we don't have to go; I'll stay with you and always back you up." She squeezed him and said, "Now what's that worth if there isn't an adventure? I'm a girl of action; A life where the next day is uncertain sounds fun, It's what I want." He brought his hand up and caressed her bare wrist, _where we're goin', you'll get a helluva lot more than just that, Yang._ She turned to the window at the morning light, forlorn as the thought of Blake interrupted her thoughts; Nick turned with her, unaware of her emotions.

* * *

The ship was a good day underway. Blake sighed as she stood on the starboard balcony of the cargo vessel, ignoring the few passengers that walked by. _I hope she got my message,_ she thought as she looked toward Vale, _Maybe Nick will help train her-_ "So," a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts, "What's a girl like you doin' on a boat like this?" she whipped around in Shock, surprise and astonishment on her face. "Sun! What?!"

* * *

 _Hours prior…_

"You sure got guts kid," Qrow said as he and Jaune walked through the halls. "I, um," Jaune said, "Yeah, I didn't want to stand up to him; I know he's a general and all, but if he's gonna bring her back –if there's even a possibility of that– then my friends should be there to help." Qrow looked back at the boy. "You don't have to tell me twice. You got potential, kid, hopefully you know how to use it."

Qrow looked out the window at a quiet nighttime mantle. _So peaceful,_ he thought, _almost like a sleeping Ursa._ A flash of light caught his eye, and he looked and saw a familiar motorcycle rev off into Mantle. _Well, I hope she knows what she's doing,_ he thought. Jaune saw it too.

"Hey, is that Yang?" Qrow grunted, and Jaune asked, "Why is she going into mantle?" "She's goin' to fetch someone," Qrow replied, "A friend." _And this just might be what they need to be more than friends._ Jaune nodded his head, but it took him a moment to understand what he said.

 **A/N: **Have I been coming off a bit whiny lately? I'm sorry, let me start fresh. I really like reading your reviews, and I like replying to them.****

 ** **However, not getting reviews leaves me... feeling alone... and anxious about my work. without you, I can't truly know if it's good or not.****

 ** **...It leaves me worried****

 ** **I'm sorry for the inconvenience.****


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The Chase

Sun leaned on the railing next to her. Blake looked at him in derision. "Are you stalking me?" "What, no!" he replied, "I just saw you headin' toward the docks all by yourself, and I followed–" She raised an eyebrow, and he winced. "…uh," he said, looking everywhere but at Blake and rubbing the back of his neck, "Maybe I shouldn't have put it that way…" She crossed her arms and glared at him; her bow twitched. Sun cleared his throat and continued, "Anyway, I lost you in the docks, and this was the only ship headed out, so I hitched a ride. I've been lookin for ya since then; I guess I must've missed you a few times." He gave a smile.

They stood there, the space between them heavy with an awkwardness that hung like stale perfume.

"So," Sun spoke up, "Why are you out here?" Blake closed her eyes and sighed, "Well, I'm going home."

* * *

Yang kicked Bumblebee's kick starter, and noticed the engine sputter before it caught. _That's strange,_ she thought, _she doesn't usually do that. Wait, Nick was up last night… I hope he wasn't messing with my bike… he better not have been…_ She turned to him; he was just getting on, sitting behind her, and she winked with a mischievous grin. She revved the engine and peeled out, screeching onto the road. However, they didn't get far before Yang felt off about something. She asked over her shoulder, "What exactly did you do last night?" He took a moment and said, "Handling some goobers."

The sound of multiple engines roared out of an alley. Nick looked back to see about five motorcycles peeling out behind them. Yang smirked, "Sounds like they're back." _The sleezeball said he'd be back,_ he thought as the bikers closed, _and that he'd bring friends._ They accelerated, but Yang saw a moving van pull out ahead. The bikers sped up, and Yang sharply turned into an alley. In the tight space, the bikers caught up. They knew these streets.

Yang turned corners, trying to get to a street where Bumblebee could use her speed. A pair of bikers boxed them in, and Nick knew he had to act. One biker pulled out a ball peen hammer. The other raised a jointed truncheon. Nick grew his tomahawk. Yang deployed _Ember Celica._ She fired at the biker with the hammer, merely grazing him. He wobbled and crashed. Nick took his chance and grabbed the nightstick of the other as he was swinging. Caught off balance, the biker fell of when Nick kicked him in the ribs. The nightstick stayed in Nick's hand.

The guy's bike kept with them a moment, before tipping over with a crash.

Yang made a turn and finally got onto a wide, empty street. Bumblebee roared as she switched up gears. Nick nearly fell off. Clutching beneath his seat, he held on one handed. He glanced behind and saw that one of the bikes was keeping up with them. They were closing in. "AWW, They go a crotch rocket!" Yang heard him yell. She looked in her mirrors, and swore under her breath. The biker drew a curved machete.

Nick readied the truncheon, holding it by its jointed end to cover his forearm. Yang drove into a tunnel, swerving to avoid a few dividers. The biker followed. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the orange light. The biker pulled up on their right and swung. Nick blocked the blade with his nightstick. Yang swung her left fist around and fired _Ember Celica._ The shot grazed the biker's visored helmet and hit the wall. The biker swung the machete again. Nick caught it with his tomahawk and pinned it to the handlebars. He reached out and slammed the bikers head into the handlebars, and she let out a grunt.

Nick hesitated at that, and The Biker slammed her fist into his gut. The shock of impact reverberated up her arm. She swerved away. Yang glanced over with a glare; she swung another shotgun shot at The Biker, only for her to block it with a swing of her machete. Nick narrowed his eyes at that. _She ain't an ordinary biker; she's more like a huntress,_ he thought.

They streaked out of the tunnel. The Biker caught up to them. Yang threw two more punches, both to the same effect. The Biker swung at Yang, but Nick blocked it with his tomahawk. The Biker turned to him. With a flick of the wrist, she tore his tomahawk out of his hand. Time seemed to slow as Yang watched it fall. Suddenly, the blade came at her head. Yang dodged, barely, and swerved out of recoil. Nick snatched something out of midair as it flew by. "HA!" Yang yelled at The Biker, "you couldn't hit the backside of a–"

"She cut your hair," Nick said, holding out a golden lock in his hand. Yang stared at it, her eyes turning crimson. He started to smell something in her hair, _curiouser and curiouser, Sun Dragon._ Her hair burst into flames, as she screamed an insult at the Biker Chick. Yang threw several shot punches into The Bicker's engine. It sputtered and clanked, before bursting into flames itself. The Biker jumped off, and rolled on the pavement.

The bike blew up a moment later.

Yang didn't even stop, looking back with Nick at the wreckage for a moment. They turned back and drove on, not seeing the black-leather clad Biker get to her knees. She looked down at her curved machete, then sheathed it and looked on as the yellow bike shrank in the distance. Another biker pulled up and offered a lift, and she reluctantly accepted.

* * *

Ruby had an idea. _When Yang and Nick get back, I wanna tell them about me and Weiss,_ she thought as she wandered the halls along with Weiss. Eventually, after many turns and stairs, they made it to the parade grounds. The chilly air nipped at Ruby's nose. Weiss stopped, ignoring the cadets passing by. An airship soared overhead, heading for the landing platform. Weiss recognized it immediately. _Oh no,_ she thought, _he's found me out already._

"Uh, Weiss, you okay?" Ruby asked. Weiss turned around, and said, "Um, yes. Come on, let's go." As Weiss turned back, Ruby glanced at the landing ship. She didn't believe her, _Weiss knew that ship._ She walked on, catching up with her partner through the crowd. "Hey Weiss, you wanna go somewhere private?" Weiss paused, and turned her head, "I, er, sure."

They moved along, finally ending up in a loading bay. It was remarkably empty of personnel. "Weiss," Ruby started. "Ruby, I–" Weiss said, turning to her, "I'm scared about this. I left my family, ran away from my father, and now I can't go back. But it's still hard to believe that I can be a part of yours." Ruby stepped up to Weiss, "Weiss, you already are, I mean, you have been since we became a team!" Ruby hugged Weiss, "even though you were a princess back then," she said with a smirk. "Hey!" Weiss exclaimed; pushing back Ruby to arm's length. "You're still a dunce." Weiss drew her into another hug, squeezing her tightly. Ruby grunted, trying to squirm free.

Just then, the rumbling echo of a motorcycle engine filled the air of the bay. Weiss and Ruby parted as a black-and-yellow bike came into view. Yang pulled in, giving Bumblebee a rev for Ruby. Weiss walked over as Yang dismounted. "YANG!" Ruby said, running up and hugging her sister. Weiss stood off to the side, softly smiling, but feeling a little awkward. Yang looked over and motioned for her to join, "c'mon Ice Queen, don't be _cold._ "

Movement to Yang's side drew Weiss' attention; Nick finally dismounted a smile on his charred face. Weiss teased, "What happened to _you_? Find out Yang's _too hot to handle?_ " Yang looked on in ire at Weiss' joke. He glanced at her, a sly grin on his face. "Oh I don't know, even though I've had the reputation of usually _playing with fire;_ I've yet to _get burned_."

"Wait a minute," Ruby said, "Nick, what happened to your axe?!" He chortled and simply replied, "I must've dropped it." Yang looked at him with questioning eyes. Absentmindedly, she rubbed the scar on her arm. _Why isn't he telling about our run-in with that biker chick?! Is he waiting for me to tell?_ His eyes met hers, a look of patience in them.

"Well,' he said, motioning for Yang to follow, "let's get this over with." And he headed toward the door. "Hey, get _what_ over with?!" Weiss said. Yang turned, "oh, you know, we're gonna see the General, volunteer for a secret mission, possibly blow something up…" Nick called over his shoulder, "You know, a regular day at the office." She turned back and followed, a smirk plastered on her face. Weiss and Ruby exchanged glances, Ruby taking out her scroll. She dialed up, and the other person answered. "Hey Jaune, I think you should meet us. Oh, and get Uncle Qrow too? Thanks."

* * *

Ironwood finished signing a stack of forms, and sighed from the weight on his shoulders. He put his elbows on his desk and massaged his temples. _Why can't Jacques see that this embargo's for our safety?_ He took out his canteen and poured come of its contents in a not-so-empty mug. He threw back a swallow of the liquid, a raspy sigh following.

Suddenly, the door burst open; and Yang strode in like a south wind, Nick not far behind. "General," she said, leaning on his desk, "We want to volunteer for your secret mission." He glanced over at Nick with a suspicious glare, and said, "Very well. You leave in forty-eight hours." He turned to Nick, "Mr. Gadsten, you know the terrain, you'll be leading this mission."

 **A/N: Hey guys, I'm Back from a unintentional hiatus! Distractions suck, but I still fall for them. Lookin' for a job also has been draining me...**

 **ANYWAY, enough about my sorry life, on to THE REVIEW(S):**

 **GamehunterMC** **: well, if you say so. I'm glad you've been following along this far!**

 **Well, let's pray I don't take too long for the next chapter...**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: A Catch…

He knew at least three would enter… besides himself; the question was, _Should I risk more lives?_ He looked over at Yang, who was reading a text from Ruby, and thought, _your putting your life as you know it into my hands; lust for the adventure, the thrill of it._ She looked over at him, "Hey, c'mon. We gotta meet up with Rubes." Nick gave a smile, "So, what does Potshot want?" She gave him a look, thinking, _'Potshot?' He already has a nickname for Ruby? That's kinda… nice._ She rolled her eyes and said, "She just wants to talk… Here, see for yourself." She tossed him her scroll; he read the text.

 _Hey, meet us at our room. Bring Nick, we wanna talk. –Ruby_

He looked up, thinking, _Oh, come on, are we sharing secrets?_ He turned to Yang, tossing back her scroll, "well, lead on sun dragon." For a brief moment, she paused and gave him a suspicious look. Then she turned and forged ahead, down hallways and corridors; but she slowed, right before they got to her door. She turned and looked deep into those enchanting eyes of his, _so wonderful…_ He looked away with a flash of sorrow on his face. _So much pain,_ she thought, _what tortures this man –this real, honest man– is beyond me._

"Hey," she said, reaching out, "You wanna tell Rubes, about us?" She cupped his cheek with her new hand, wiping away a stray tear. He smiled and leaned into her. "I don't think it's much of a secret," he said softly, "besides, I think she and Weiss have one of their own." "What–" she managed to say before they kissed. Their lips were locked for a long time, and Yang tried to get deeper; but, reluctantly, they separated with a sigh.

"Eew, you're disgusting!"

Yang glanced over at Ruby and Weiss, standing in the open door. Weiss smirked, "So, what have you two lovebirds been up to, besides the obvious." Nick turned to them, "oh, likely no more than you two." Ruby looked on, confused, "huh, whadaya mean?" she looked over at Weiss, who was a little pink in the face, "Uh, Weiss why are you blu–" Weiss turned away abruptly. "I don't like your implications, Nicholas," Weiss said as she hurriedly walked back in.

Nick's eyebrows shot up. Yang looked between them with a mischievous smile. "Umm, anyway," Ruby said, her cheeks flushing, "C-come on inside, Uncle Qrow'll be here soon. We're gonna talk." Nick sighed, as Yang entered with Ruby. He was about to follow, but suddenly he tilted his head, catching the sound of determined, quick footsteps.

The girls looked out at him, right as he looked down the hall. "Hey, are you coming?" Yang called. Nick turned back to them, seeing Weiss, Yang, and Ruby watching him. He took note that Ruby and Weiss were sitting together on a bunk. He walked over and sat next to Yang. "Yang," Ruby said, fidgeting only a little, "me and Weiss have–" Weiss suddenly looked up and called out in surprise, " _Winter_?!"

Winter stood framed in the doorway, looking at each of them, a blank expression on her face. "I would like to speak with Nicholas, privately," she addressed authoritatively. He looked on, glancing at Weiss, "The answers no." Winter looked at him with her icy gaze, "Why?" Weiss turned to her blood sister. "Winter, whatever you have to say, you can say in front of us. Besides," she looked back at Ruby and Yang, "It seems we all have some news."

 _What news,_ Yang thought, _is our secret that known?_ She looked at Ruby for an explanation. "Oh!" Ruby said, catching her sister's intent, "me and Weiss–" "Weiss and I," Winter corrected as she fetched a glass of water from the small sink. Looking at everyone, Nick and Yang sitting together, and Weiss next to her, Ruby continued, "Well, we wanna become sisters."

Winter's spit-take was priceless, her expression one of surprise and shock. She coughed and sputtered, inadvertently inhaling some water; drowning out the sound of footsteps. "What?!" she managed to ask. Just then, Qrow appeared in the doorway, and saw Winter bent over trying to catch her breath. "Uncle Qrow!" Ruby announced. Qrow looked back at Ruby, and at Yang and Nick, "What'd I miss?"

Winter cleared her throat, "I will not stand for this!" She looked at her sister and said, "You would abandon your family, for this… motley crew?" Weiss stood up, "Father discredited, humiliated, and rejected me; and mother numbs herself too much with alcohol to notice." Winter stood there, dumbfounded and seething. Qrow eased around her, taking out his flask.

Winter followed him with her eyes, but then turned her gaze to Nick, seeing his thoughtful, thousand-yard stare. "Do _you_ have anything to add, _Nicholas_?" he focused on her, catching the derision in her words. _She's gonna be fun to work with…_ "Honestly," he said, eyes steeled, "I don't see anything wrong." Nick looked at Ruby and Weiss, "maybe peculiar, but not wrong," He turned to Yang, and a warm, kind smile lit up his face. "But," he huffed as he averted his gaze, "this does reaffirm my conviction that they shouldn't stay here."

Winter glared at him, "Are you saying that they should come with us?!" Ruby and Weiss looked at each other; they said nothing, but both shared the same thought, _'Come with us,' where are they going?_ They looked back at him. Winter was furious, "I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS OUTRAGE!" Nick squared his shoulders, but calmly said, "Then sit."

Almost instantly, Winter drew her sword and lunged at him. With a refined reaction speed, Nick leapt up, with a cheer from Yang and Ruby, bringing out his right shoulder. He ducked under the swing of Winter's blade, ramming his shoulder into her gut. He wrapped his arms around her waist with a vise-like grip. His momentum carried them both to the floor. He rolled off her into a crouch, ready for a counter-attack. Winter got to her feet, and made a motion with her hand. A glyph appeared right in front of Nick, and before he realized it, he was sent sailing into the hall. He slammed into the wall, the back of his head foremost. Winter strutted over to his limp, unconscious form and put a boot on his chest. "Your insolence has gone far enough," she said with a sneer. The ring of another sword behind her rang out. "And your arrogance has gone too far, Ice Queen," Qrow said, holding _Harbinger_ in one hand, his flask in the other; Yang right beside him, Armed with _Ember Celica_ and Ready to brawl, Ruby deploying _Crescent Rose._ But in front of them all, was Weiss, _Myrtenaster_ out, pointing her blade at her older sister.

Nick groaned beneath her. "Back away from him," Weiss intoned. Winter stood there speechless, almost unbelieving the situation. Gritting her teeth, she stood in stubborn defiance and raised her saber. Yang's eyes turned crimson; and she was about to charge, but Qrow held her back. Weiss strongly said, "I am no longer a part of a family that saw me as an image of the company, and tried to imprison me for who I am. My friends," she motioned behind her, "accepted me when Father wouldn't, and not for what I could do, but because I was _their friend._ And you blame me for wanting them as a family?"

Winter paused, and then backed off. "I don't."

Yang shook off Qrow and ran to Nick's side. She cradled his head, and whispered, "Nick, can you hear me?!" His eyes slowly opened, and he coughed. He sat up, looking around. Ruby came over, asking, "Are you ok Nick?" he looked up at her and grunted. Turning to Yang, he motioned to her that he wanted to get up. She put an arm around him, as he put his arm on her shoulders, and she hefted him up. Winter looked on with a smirk, and Yang said, "Get that smile off your face –" she stopped herself for Ruby's sake, But Nick squeezed her shoulder; an expression of the shared sentiment. Ruby stepped up next to him and said, "even if half the things Weiss said aren't true, you could've at least supported her, and not attacked her." Nick, leaning on Yang for support, weakly uttered, "Ruby, let it fall."

Yang looked at him, as did the rest of them. "I am trying to protect her," Winter stated, "and this insolent… jerk, doesn't understand that she's too inexperienced to join this mission." Yang glared at her with blazing eyes, angered at Winter's slander. "I ne'er said," he grunted next to her, "That they would come." A moment of silence passed between them.

They filtered back into the room, Nick under the supporting arms of Yang shuffling in last. When they got through the door, an Idea came to Qrow. As the two sat down, He closed the door, locking it. Nick took a breath. "Actually, I want as few people on this mission as possible," He said, voice stronger. That perked some interest, and Ruby took a chance. "Ooh, can I come?" she eagerly asked, and next to her, Weiss rolled her eyes at the comment. Nick looked at her, "No… We are going places far too dangerous to the human mind." "What do you mean, 'too dangerous for the mind'?" Weiss asked, "where on Remnant could possibly be that hazardous?" Nick looked to her, dead straight into her eyes. "I never said it wasn't on Remnant."

That stunned them to silence.

Nick coughed and said, "you know, you two are a valuable part of this… well, family I s'pose. Weiss, take care of Ruby and keep her out of trouble. Ruby train up and take care of Weiss, help her if her family visits; they won't be too happy with your news." "The Atlas Academy is safe," Winter proudly stated, "Even from Father." "yeah," Nick said, "That's what worries me." Winter squinted, "what do you mean? No one can get in without authoriz–" "It won't matter if the barbarians are at the gates," Nick retorted, "when the Dragons are already inside!" before anyone could process what he said, Nick turned to Qrow, "Qrow, keep an eye on those frosty flowers o'er here." Qrow nodded. Nick slumped over, eyes rolling into his head. Yang quickly caught and held him. A soft moan escaped his lips. Qrow immediately stood up, and was about to leave, when he overheard Yang and Nick whispering to each other. "I'll be fine; I just need to rest." Nick said, but Yang wasn't having it, "You're concussed, you need to stay awake." The two were looking at each other, both with admiration, though Nick looked strained. Qrow smiled to himself as he passed by.

* * *

Five tall strangers stood in their midst, all unseen. Their countenances were sharp, listening to the conversation of their charges. "They are not ready," one said, almost leaning over Weiss. "The gauntlet is coming," another said, sitting next to Winter, "they will be tested, each in their own way." "They _Will_ be ready," a third, standing near the door stated, "the time is nearly at hand." A fourth, renowned for saying little, spoke up, "why them? Why are they the ones chosen?" the one near the door moved over to Qrow and said, "they are not all gathered here, Belladonna is on her way to menagerie, and Nikos…" he fell silent. Finally, the fifth, sitting behind Nick and Yang, said, "she is in that place. These will bring her back. I will watch-care over them." The being by Qrow looked on, fully knowing what awaited them.

Suddenly, he motioned for silence. A shadow, unseeable, passed down the hall. The leader took his hand from his sword hilt. He looked at Nick, right as he made his parable. "we have to keep up appearances," he said, and motioned to the one sitting behind. She reached behind his head and touched. Nick's eyes rolled up, and he collapsed.

* * *

Jaune Arc sat, looking at his armor as he polished it. he could see his own reflection; and he paused to look at it. He sighed and thought, _here I was, trying to convince myself she was gone… and now we're going off in the morning to go bring her back._ He looked at the improvements he had made for it. _I thought it was a good idea to have better armor._ He glanced at _Crocea Mors_ and added out loud, "better make that weapon too."

Putting on his armor, a bit clumsy and awkward affair, he picked up the sheathed sword and made for the armory. There were very few cadets in the halls. Before he knew it, his mind was overwhelmed by the endless hallways. "Oh no," he mumbled, "don't tell me I'm lost."

He never heard the approach, but he jumped when somebody laid a hand on his shoulder. "Excuse me sir," a young cadet said, "are you lost?" Jaune looked at her and floundered, "I, umm… well you see…" He sighed and said, "yes, could you guide me to the armory?" She smiled and nodded. "Follow me, sir," she said as she clipped around.

It didn't take them too long. When they arrived at the door to the armory, the cadet spun around to face him. Jaune, unfortunately, didn't stop in time; and he ran into her, nearly toppling them over. "ooh, I'm so sorry!" Jaune apologized, his face turning red as he tried to untangle himself from her. She cleared her throat and replied, "no matter, simply be careful next time." She huffed an embarrassed sigh and said, "here you are, sir."

Jaune thanked her; and as she turned and walked away, he said, "Er, my name's Jaune, Jaune Arc. I never caught yours." She walked away, but said over her shoulder, "Cadet Fern." Jaune watched her go, and then heaved a sigh. "Oh, I'm such a klutz."

The armory was nearly automatized, so he could easily upgrade his sword by himself. Jaune settled in at a terminal, and placed _Crocea Mors_ in a scanner. Then, after a moment, he started redesigning the sheath just a little.

He had a cool new function in mind.

"Hey c'mon! Hurry up!" Jaune heard Ruby say when she entered. Right behind her in the hall was Yang, "Uungh, Ruby, If you're in such a hurry you could help." Jaune turned around to look. Ruby stood near the entryway, anxious and exited. Yang finally walked in, dragging something.

"You know," she said, "you could've just come with us, instead of having to drag you." Jaune gawked as he saw Nick, stiff and rigid as a plank, being dragged in by his shirt collar. "I told you, I don't need another weapon." "What are you talking about!?" Ruby exclaimed, "every huntsman needs a weapon; and one that compliments them!" Nick looked over at her as he was dragged by, "but I'm not a huntsman." Yang suddenly dropped him, and he hid the floor with a thud. Just as fast, Nick sprung back and off his hands into a crouch.

Yang grabbed his shirt and held him fast, "You're sticking around, and You're getting a weapon. Is that clear?" a hint of a smile curled on her lips. He looked her in the eyes, "transparently." She let him go, and breathed a soft sigh. "So!" Ruby said, nearly jumping on him, "where to start? Oh, how 'bout this?" She rushed in a cloud of rose petals, and came back with a shotgun in hand.

Nick took a sidelong glance at Yang, "I think that's already… covered." Ruby blinked, then looked between them, "Oh." She rubbed the back of her neck, cheeks turning pink. Nick walked down an aisle of weapons, breathing a soft chuckle ending in a sigh, and the sisters followed.

Jaune turned back and took up his upgraded sword. He slung to his belt and briskly walked over to join them. Nick, right as Jaune entered the aisle, stopped and turned around, as did the sisters. Jaune slowed and raised his hand in greeting. "Hey Jaune," Ruby said. Nick cleared his throat to get their attention, looking into each of their eyes, all three pairs; silver, blue, and lavender.

He looked to his left, and then to his right; emphasizing the weapons on the racks. "Right now, the only weapon I need is this," he said as he drew his knife. It gleamed in the light; and they could see a mottled pattern in its metal, like it was made from two metals. Yang asked, "are you gonna make something from that, Alice?" both Ruby and Jaune looked at her, and Ruby snickered, "Alice?"

Nick stood there and said, "no, I'm not. I will make one when it's time." Jaune looked again at the blade, and asked, "What's it made of?" Nick turned to Jaune and replied, "This knife is very special. Your sword is made of steel." He motioned to _Crocea Mors_ and continued, "This blade is made of an ethereal metal, Vorpal."

 **A/N: well guys, thanks for waiting. things have been tough, real tough. for one thing, I've been wanting to rewrite the story, changing a lot of things. I've fallen into a writer's trap; waiting to introduce my character until several chapters in. I feel like thing's in here could be different...**

 **for two, I've needed to attend actual life. finding work *gag* and finishing school.**

 **and three, my drive to write has waned, like I'm ... I guess... moving on.**

 **I'm still watching the series. Vol.6 is Rockin' so far... better than the other two. but still I have imagined Nick... or rather Alistair... being in the series.**

 **ANYWAY, the Reviews!**

 **MCMike** **: good to see ya again, Mike! how'd you like this one? Good? Bad? Somewhere else?**

 **Alright, I guess I'll see ya'll later!**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: That Which You Seek

Yang walked through the dark forest, mist swirling around her legs as she waded through. The only sound she could hear was her heart beating. She looked around, unsure and feeling like she was watched by hidden eyes. As she walked on, her skin began to crawl, and a chill ran up her spine.

A twig snapped behind her.

Yang whirled around, seeing someone she didn't expect. "Blake?" The figure stood before her, arms relaxed at her sides, face downcast. Her black hair flowed down her shoulders like satin. _She looks quite serene,_ Yang thought, taking a step toward her. Blake raised her eyes to Yang, yellow meeting lavender. A soft smile curled on Blake's lips. Blake's bow moved, both sides curling downwards. Yang stood there a moment, and Blake timidly said, "Yang, I –I'm sorry." Yang rushed at her, and Blake moved her arms up to defend herself. Yang wrapped her arms around her, her head falling on her shoulder. Tears streamed as she sobbed. Blake slowly embraced Yang as she cried with her.

But as suddenly as she appeared, Blake vanished in Yang's arms. A sinister laugh echoed through the woods. Yang turned to the voice, and saw _him._ She clenched her fists, naked without _Ember Celica_. He stared at her through the eye holes in his mask, standing with a malevolent grin on his face. He opened his mouth as if to speak, and smoke poured out.

Yang suddenly found herself running through the forest, chest heaving for air. Her heart felt like it was wrapped in chains of complete terror. She looked behind her, and saw him chasing her, becoming dark, large, ominous. He was turning into a monster before her very eyes, his cloak unfurling into wings.

Her legs pumped against the ground, dodging the limbs and roots… except one. She tripped and fell hard, landing one her side. He was upon her in an instant, looming over her, savoring the kill. She looked up, into the Grimm mask, and in panic and terror, _somebody help me, save me!_ Whether she said them out loud or not, Yang didn't know; but the monster above her reacted like she spat in its face. It smiled, revealing row upon row of triangular teeth. Yang scrambled away, backing up to a tree twenty feet away. The Grimm stayed there with an amused look in it's eyes, still grinning. _Save me!_ She thought in a panic, _Save me! Please!_

Yang woke up with a gasp in a cold sweat, her heart thudding almost out of her chest, and she desperately looked around the room. Ruby was sleeping contentedly in her bunk, Weiss sawing logs in the bunk above her. But Yang desperately looked for someone else, and he wasn't there. _Where the hell is Alice?_ She thought as she held her knees to her chin. She longed for him to be there with her, holding her tight in his arms. She started to calm down, and she resolved, _If he won't come to me, I'll go to him!_

She slipped out of the bunk, and put on some pants. Reaching out for them, she couldn't stop her hands from shaking from that nightmare. The image of Adam flashed through her mind, bringing her fear back up. She drew a ragged breath and tried to calm down. A noise sounded outside, and Yang jumped, heard pounding like an engine. "Alice," she whimpered, "where are you?"

It took a moment, but she mustered enough courage to open the door. She peeked out the doorway, down the hall, _nothing._ She crept along, terrified; but the farther she got, the less scared she became. She made a turn, sneaking down the darkened halls in a crouch. She breathed a sigh, trying to lose her fear.

She didn't know where Nick was sleeping, but she forged on. Almost instinctively, she turned corners and went through doors. _What if I find him asleep?_ She thought, _…I guess I'll crawl in with him if I do._ After what seemed like hours, her eyes seemed to glide to a door and stay there. It was quiet, but as Yang approached, she could hear soft talking inside.

She opened the door and peeked inside. It was dark. She could hear a voice talking to someone. She quietly entered, unsure and uneasy. She crept along until the door closed behind her. She waited for her eyes to adjust, and then she saw him. Nick was on his knees, shirtless, fists clenched; his back was turned to her. "My God," he was saying, "protect them; hide them in the hollow of your hand. Don't let the forces of wickedness destroy them, for the wicked spit in your face."

She reached out and touched him, and he stiffened. "Nick," she said, trying but failing to keep her voice from quivering. He turned to look at her, catching the tremble in her touch and voice. "Whadaya doing' up at this hour?" he kindly, caringly asked, "You ok?" she withdrew her hand, "I–" she stopped herself, a part of her not wanting to show her weakness. "I wanted to see you." He held out an arm, and softly but strongly said, "Yang." She turned and saw his open, welcoming arms, and she broke.

Yang leapt into his arms, trembling, and wrapping her arms tightly around him. He closed his arms around her, as she said, "hold me Nick. Please _hold me and don't let go_." She buried her face into his neck. Nick felt tears on his shoulder blade, and tightened his hold as she started to sob. "Hey, it's ok. It's ok. Let it out. I'm here." He said. She spoke through her sobbing, breath escaping in hitches, "I-I'm not crying!" "I know," he replied, rubbing her back with his right hand. She responded by holding him, squeezing him even tighter, her breath hitching as she cried.

Time slipped by the two of them; both sitting on the floor of the quiet room, one comforting the other. Nick held her close, Yang breathing peacefully in bliss. She wasn't asleep, she couldn't after that nightmare, but she closed her eyes and settled in the comfort of nick's embrace. His heart thrummed beneath her head, steadily beating its rhythm. Breathing in time with his pulse, she caught the smell of his skin with every inhale, and breathed out all her fear with every exhale. Her arms had relaxed, but still held him close. One was getting tired, and when she moved it, she came to realize something.

 _He's not wearing a shirt!_

Her eyes slowly opened, the pre-dawn light soft on them. She leaned away to get a good look at him, Nick watching her with curious eyes. Her eyes widened as she saw many discolored patches and stripes on his chest, arms and torso. She traced several straight but jagged scars on his chest, softly saying in soft wonder, "Oh Alice, your scars…" her eyes wandered over his muscular chest, stopping on a patch-like scar in the left corner of his chest. _A bullet wound?_ He took his own hand out from behind her and held her caressing hand to his chest. She could feel his heart racing beneath her fingers; and he caressed her hand, her arm, and, finally, it's ring-like scar.

His touch sent shivers up her spine, and she caught her breath, letting it out in a soft moan. Yang felt, deep inside in her very soul, a fire ignite. She reached out with both hands and held his head, pulling him into a kiss.

* * *

Weiss, Jaune, and Ruby walked along on their way to the ship, meandering together to stall for time. "It's a beautiful morning," Ruby said, trying not to fidget. Jaune agreed, toting his backpack on his shoulders. Weiss stayed silent, a coat draped over her shoulders, her head on a swivel.

"Uh, Weiss, are you okay?" Ruby asked, "You don't have to worry, no one's around." "I," Weiss began, then sighed, "thing's don't… I don't know… quite feel… right." A man turned out from a corner and stopped in front of a store, unlocking its security bars and entering his business. As they passed, the lights turned on inside, and through the window, something caught Jaune's eye.

He stopped, the two girls pausing a step or two ahead. "I'll be right back," he said as he headed for the door. Ruby and Weiss looked at each other, then at the establishment. "Big Ben's pawn and trade?" Ruby said aloud. Weiss shook her head in bewilderment as they huddled near the door, "what could that klutz possibly want in there?"

Ruby caught a quick motion down the street out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look, but she couldn't see anything out of place. Weiss caught her motion and looked as well, "What is it, dunce?" "Mm," she replied, "I thought I saw something." That unnerved Weiss, and she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. "I feel like we're being watched," Weiss said in a low voice, and tightened her grip on _Myrtenaster._

Suddenly, the door of the pawn shop opened with a clang, and made the girls jump. They drew a sigh of relief as they saw Jaune step out. Weiss was elated, relaxing her grip on her half-drawn sword. "Oh thank goodness," she said, "what on Remnant were you do–" She stopped when she saw his acquisition in hand.

"I don't believe it," she said, starting to turn a shade of pink, "you can't be serious." Ruby snorted, trying to hold back her giggling at the sight. They were remembering that night, not so long ago, when Jaune asked Weiss to the dance.

* * *

Their ship wasn't what they expected. It wasn't a bullhead, or a cargo ship, it was a mini warship. The group met at its boarding ramp. Jaune, after giving hugs to his friends, headed up the boarding ramp; as Ruby and Weiss hugged Yang, tears starting to fall. Then Ruby let go of her sister and turned to Nick, giving him a tight hug, saying, "Take care of my sister for me." Those words touched Yang, and she wrapped an arm around him. They touched her very soul, and she thought, _why would Rubes say that?_ Nick was thinking likewise; he put his hands on Ruby's shoulders and said with a smile, "Here's looking at you, Potshot."

Then he did something none of them expected: he bowed his head, pressing his forehead with Ruby's, and whispered something. Whatever it was, it stunned Ruby into silence as he pulled away. "Excuse me," Weiss interjected, "What are you doing?" Nick was about to answer, but Yang returned, "I think he's praying for Rubes. Right?" Reaching out and touching his shoulder, she smiled and said, "c'mon, we're gonna miss the ship." Weiss looked on, shaking her head in exasperation, as Yang shouldered her duffel.

Nick and Yang headed up the boarding ramp. But, before they boarded, Nick turned around and called, "Godspeed on your journey, Ruby, behave yourselves, stay out of trouble till we return." And he waved goodbye before turning around and boarding the Atlasian airship. Jaune met them right inside the hatch.

Winter was inside, ready to chauffer them. Yang looked around; the corridor they were in was empty. "Uh, where's the crew?" she asked. "This airship has been equipped with an autonomous skeleton crew," Winter replied, "consisting of ten unregistered Atlasian knights. Their memories will be wiped after this mission, so will the onboard computers," she glared at them, her tone darkening, "and for the purpose of security, you will keep this to yourselves. We know where you, your friends, and your relatives live."

Nick rolled his eyes at the thinly veiled threat. Winter curtly turned around, "come, I will show you to your cabins." They followed. On the way, Jaune marveled at the ship. "What kind of ship is this?" he asked. "This is the new corvette-class warship, Mr. Arc," Winter explained, "Designed and manufactured by Dakkar industries. It will be made public next month."

She turned a corner and pointed to four doors down a short hall, two on each side. "Your cabins are on the left. Unfortunately, two people will have to share–" Almost instantly, Yang spoke up, "I'll share with Nick." Winter narrowed her eyes at Yang, but Nick gave Yang probably the harder blow: slowly turning to her, he gave her a "what are you talking about?" look of questioning surprise. Jaune didn't think anything of Yang's quick remark, saying, "Ok, I'll take the far one."

Winter rushed past them, "I will leave you to get your bags stowed; get ready for departure." She paused, "be on the bridge in ten minutes."

As Winter left, Nick and Yang headed into their cabin. It wasn't large, but it did have a bunk bed. Yang threw her duffel on the top bunk as Nick watched her with a curious aire. "Is there a reason," he quietly said, "that you volunteered to share this room with me?" she turned to him, "whadaya mean?" he sighed, "it seems a bit out of character for you: taking every chance to be near me, and snatching every opportunity to get me alone. When I first met you, you seemed a strong independent girl."

Yang inwardly winced, starting to get defensive. But what Nick said next shattered her defenses: "for some reason, you feel secure, even safe with me; I could feel your fear last night, and you wanted me for comfort." Nick looked into her eyes. Yang looked down, tears starting to well. She wanted him to say more, but he stayed silent. She slowly looked back to him. "I," she started, stepping toward him, he backed up, and she stopped. She took a breath and said, "All you said is true; I don't know why, but I do feel like that when we're together."

The ship suddenly lurched beneath them, and while Nick was caught off guard Yang closed the space between them, pressing him into the bulkhead.

She reached out and ran her fingers down the scar on his face. He reached up and held her hand. "Yang," he said, lips starting to tremble, "Don't start something we won't be able to end." She got up close, their faces nearly touching as she looked up into his heterochromic eyes. "What makes you think I'd want it to end?"

* * *

They stepped onto the bridge, Jaune, Nick, and Yang escorted by two Atlasian Knights. "Mr. Gadsten," Winter, in the captain's chair, pronounced, "Could you provide the coordinates for our destination." As always, it wasn't a question. "Even better," Nick said, "I'll tell you where we're going."

"Um," Yang started, "could anyone at least fill me in on what we're doing?" Winter spoke strictly, "We are on a 'search-and-retrieve' mission. There is someone of… high importance to Atlas and–" Yang burst out in anger, "who the hell are we going for?! What's her name?!" Yang looked between Winter and Nick. But, to her surprise, Jaune cleared his throat, "Uh, Yang, We're going to go get Pyrrha back."

Yang stared at him. "Jaune," she reasoned, "Pyrrha's dead. She's not coming back." "But what if she's not?" Jaune replied. "People," Yang, hair sizzling, said, "Don't just come back from the dead." Jaune looked at Yang in anger. "Why not?" Nick said behind her, surprising both of them, "It's happened before."

"Mr. Gadsten," Winter intoned," where are we going?"

Nick turned from the two blonds, and stared at winter. She sat straighter in her chair when she heard the name, her eyes widening to the point of bulging out of her head.

"The Island of Fire."

 **A/N: well, a few days after the two year mark of this story, and only twenty-three chaps! don't worry, I know these have taken a long time, but the next chapter's in the works! the thing is, I've been having thoughts of scrapping this story, and maybe replacing it with a more cannon-suitable one (p.m. me about the completely different cannon adaptation idea I've had for about a year now) but this one I'll do some things you might not like. things will happen, characters will be revealed, and not all in this "volume" or story.**

 **in other news, things in my life may deem it necessary to postpone chapter updates.**

 **AND NOW, THE REVIEWS:**

 **KnightSpark** **: What do you mean, "Blake's status?" I know I've kinda written her out of the story. maybe she'll appear in the sequel.**

 **LunaTheBlackWolf** **: I'm glad you got the connection, without losing your head i hope.**

 **so, yes guys, until next time...**


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